Diagnostics
Fertilizer adulteration can be a malpractice or unconscious occurrence
in the multiple blending steps in the fertilizer chain, resulting in lack
of crop response, causing mistrust in the use of fertilizers by farmers,
and it may even lead to soil and crop damage and pollution. VFRC
therefore initiated the development of a quick tool, but the speed,
accuracy and affordability of the methodology should be improved.32
Fertilization strategies should be location-specific to be effective
and to inform decisionmaking by farmers, entrepreneurs and
policymakers at various scales. VFRC engaged in the development of
an agronomic database for systematic compilation of the thousands
of on-farm trials carried out by IFDC for geo-statistical processing
and dissemination of the farm field and soil data.31
Protocols
An increasing number of enterprises offer nutrient-containing
products, coatings and bio-stimulants in the market. This flow of novel
products will surge because of the environmental awareness and need
for increased recycling, creating business opportunities. However, the
validity of the claims, from enhancing seed emergence, plant growth
and development and improving crop health to resistance/tolerance
to biotic and abiotic stresses, may not have been verified and thus
could lead to unrealistic expectations and consumer dissatisfaction.
The complexity of plant-nutrient uptake processes may cause
products to be effective only under specific crop and environmental
conditions. Thus, predicting their behavior for other conditions may
not be possible when their functional mechanisms are not known;
this may hamper widespread use of such products. Understanding
their functional mechanisms may guide toward products and
practices that can be applied more generically or for targeting
specific conditions only. Normative research that sets standards
and protocols for scientific scrutiny and evaluations to unravel the
functional mechanisms ought to guide the entry of fertilizer products
into the market. These insights can also help fast-track the search for
more efficient fertilizer.
Geospatial database training in Rwanda, February 2015.
Measurement of soil nutrient content has long been in practice and
has proven to be effective to some degree for major nutrients like N,
P and K. However, the validity of this approach remains to be proven
for micronutrients. The importance of instant affordable measurements
has become increasingly prominent for specific and timely targeting
to prevailing farm-field conditions. To this end, VFRC is involved in
assessing the robustness of quick tools to measure soil and plant
physico-chemical properties.
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