Summary
This narrative review examines strategies to enhance fertiliser efficiency across farming systems, addressing the imperative to meet growing food demand whilst mitigating environmental and economic costs. The authors synthesise evidence on precision nutrient management, combined organic–inorganic approaches, remote sensing technologies, and biological methods, alongside monitoring frameworks. The review contextualises the problem through global food security data and quantified economic losses from inefficient fertiliser practices, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe.
UK applicability
The review's findings on precision nutrient management and remote sensing–GIS integration are applicable to UK arable and mixed farming contexts, where regulatory pressure on nutrient losses (via the Water Environment (Water Services) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations and similar frameworks) aligns with the paper's emphasis on reducing environmental pollution. However, economic metrics from sub-Saharan Africa may have limited direct relevance to UK farming economics.
Key measures
Fertiliser use efficiency; return on investment per dollar spent on fertiliser; greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural fertiliser use; economic costs of nutrient pollution; prevalence of food shortages by nation
Outcomes reported
The review synthesises strategies for enhancing fertiliser utilisation efficiency, including precision nutrient management, organic–inorganic fertiliser combinations, remote sensing and GIS technologies, and biological approaches. It reports economic and environmental metrics such as return on investment for fertiliser spending in sub-Saharan Africa and annual nutrient pollution costs in the European Union.
Topic tags
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