São Paulo – In rural properties in the interior of Brazil, the manure of animals in paddocks, chicken coops and pigsties has been used to fertilize crops. The material is normally placed in a large hole, to ferment, and later transported to the crops, to help the maize, soy and beans grow. This family-farming habit, named composting, not always developed by large institutions, is becoming a great concern in the country. And large industrial projects are being turned to the sector.
Brazil already has some organic fertilizer factories – made out of organic raw material like manure and tree bark – and organominerals – like organic inputs and other minerals like phosphorus and potassium. But this year, after Brazilian agriculture was surprised by the high prices and dearth of chemical fertilizers, new and large projects for industrialisation of alternative fertilizers started showing up around the place, headed by farmers or even fostered by the federal government.
The Campos Novos Regional Agricultural Cooperative (Copercampos), in the state of Santa Catarina, opened the doors of its organomineral fertilizer factory in November. BioCoper, as the fertilizer was named, entered the market promising salvation. The factory uses poultry manure, phosphorous, nitrogen and potassium. Not far from Santa Catarina, in the neighbouring Paraná, another project for organomineral fertilizer production is being developed, headed by the National Agroindustrial Cooperative (Coonagro), a central cooperative that includes another 19 agricultural cooperatives in the western region of the state.
The factory from Santa Catarina is a Copercampos initiative, but the Coonagro project arose after talks between the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply. Apart from guaranteeing the supply of fertilizers in the country, the government wants to provide a noble end to the manure generated by birds, pigs and cattle in the country. Among the concerns are possible international environmental pressures, as is the case in Europe. Manure, if placed on crops without composting, is a source of pollution.
"If the material is left exposed, on the ground, it liberates nitrous oxide, a pollutant that damages the ozone layer,” explained Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) soil researcher Vinicius Benites. Pig manure, for example, even causes clay to separate from the soil, resulting in erosion, not to mention the heavy metals it carries that may be transported from the crops to the waters nearby, with the rain. The idea is to stop the manure being used incorrectly, moving towards composting and industrialisation.
"If we see how many birds there are in Brazil, the volume of their droppings each day and we multiply one by the other, we will no longer need mineral fertilizers,” said the coordinator of the National Fertilizer Plan, Ali Saab, at the Ministry. The problem, according to him, is that the material is spread all over Brazil and the cost to bring it all together is high. Therefore, the alternative fertilizer factories are recommended for installation in areas where there are many livestock farms, and where the manure may be collected.
Following the example of its participation in the Coonagro project, the government plans to visit other regions where there are many farms, like the city of Rio Verde, in the state of Goiás, Uberlândia, in Minas Gerais, as well as Nova Mutum and Lucas do Rio Verde, in Mato Grosso. Saab believes that it is possible to establish another two or three factories in the country, apart from those that area already in development, to produce, in ten years, approximately three million tonnes of organomineral fertilizers made from manure. The volume represents 15% of all mineral fertilizers used in national agriculture.
Embrapa has already started operating in the field and has developed the necessary technology for those interested in heading a similar project. The coordinator of the area, Benites, explains that the project was developed for use with pork droppings, but that it may be used with other manures. Copercampos should produce 1,000 tonnes a month. And Coonagro is considering a factory for 100,000 to one million tonnes a year.
*Translated by Mark Ament
