close
card
Coordenador Geral e Científico da NPV - Nutrientes para a Vida

What is fertilizer indeed?

The input is meant to help farmers to produce necessary food for the world’s growing population. Let’s know it better!

Basically, fertilizer is food for plants. It is meant to help farmers to produce necessary food for the world’s growing population. In order to meet this demand, it is paramount to add the fertilizer after the harvest, knowing that plants need 17 essential nutrients to survive and grow. The input replaces such nutrients to the soil.

What is fertilizer

Nitrogen, Phosphate and Potassium are the three elements that contribute the most for good yield in the crops and for sustainable production of food. And these nutrients are part of the composition of fertilizers. In and all, plants will develop in a healthy way with the right amount and balance of nutrients in the soil.

That’s why the supplement containing the minerals must be prepared according to each kind of plant. Once the nutrients are extracted from the soil during each harvest period, the fields must be enriched with the addition of manure. Either mineral or organic. It is worth mentioning that the words “manure” and “fertilizer” have the same meaning.

Advantages

The advantage of mineral fertilizers is the possibility to be applied in adjustable amounts to meet specific demands of each agricultural crop, which helps protecting the environment. They can also complement the use of organic manure, ensuring balanced provision of nutrients. This is the way to manage the equilibrium in the supply, in order to avoid excess or lack of essential elements in the soil.

Therefore, fertilizers are key ingredients used by farmers in the production of food. They allow greater production in arable lands, avoiding the need for new planting areas. This contributes with the reduction of deforestation.

By these means, companies that produce manure or fertilizers constitute an important part of food production chain. And they play a chief role, specially in the responsible use of products, besides supporting efforts to preserve the environment.