Global fertilizer usage is on track to top 200 million tonnes in 2018, up 25 percent in a decade, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. In a report, FAO says fertilizer consumption is forecast to rise by 1.8 percent a year through 2018. Use of nitrogen, the most widely used fertilizer, is projected to rise by 1.4 percent annually, phosphate by 2.2 percent annually and potash by 2.6 percent. Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to have the fastest growth rate in nitrogen use, at 4.6 percent a year, but still would account for only 5 percent of total usage because of low application rates. East and South Asia use 60 percent of the nitrogen fertilizer.
“Applying fertilizer is one way of replacing nitrogen that is removed from soils when crops are harvested. While extensive nitrogen use can entail waste and damage water resources, the huge increase in fertilizer use helped drive a rapid expansion in agricultural productivity in the postwar era,” says FAO. In many parts of Africa, under-use of fertilizer means soils are becoming depleted of nutrients, it said.