Toward Sustainable Use of Nitrogen Fertilizers in China

China is the world’s largest consumer of inorganic nitrogen fertilizers, accounting for about one-third of total global consumption. The use of nitrogen fertilizers has played an important role in maintaining food security in China by allowing large increases in both grain and non-grain yields. Despite claims that it would starve the world, China has continued to be relatively self-sufficient in food production over the last three decades.Since the 1990s there has been growing recognition that high levels of nitrogen fertilizer use in China are contributing to local, regional, and global environmental problems, includ-ing: deteriorating water quality, soil acidification, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and a substantial perturba-tion of the global nitrogen cycle. China’s first national pollution survey, completed in early 2010, identified agriculture as a major pol-luter, increasing domestic pressure on policymakers to limit the envi-ronmental consequences of fertilizer use. As policymakers weigh options for reducing GHG emissions growth in China, improving the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer use could be a cost-effective mitigation strategy.

---

• View source