Azernews.Az

By Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijan’s company Saba, engaged in the food production and sale, has launched construction of an organic fertilizer plant.

The organic fertilizer plant will be located in the Shabran region. The annual production capacity of the plant will be 26,000 tons. The finished products will be produced in the form of 50-kilogram bags for retail trade and 1 ton for farms. The plant will enrich bird droppings with minerals and process in granular form.

Organic fertilizers are fertilizers derived from animal matter, animal excreta (manure), vegetable matter. (e.g. compost and crop residues). Naturally occurring organic fertilizers include animal wastes from meat processing, peat, manure, slurry, and guano. In contrast, the majority of fertilizers used in commercial farming are extracted from minerals (e.g., phosphate rock) or produced industrially (e.g., ammonia).

Organic fertilizer differs from chemicals in that they feed plants while building the soil. Soils with lots of organic material remain loose and airy, hold more moisture and nutrients, foster growth of soil organisms, and promote healthier plant root development.

If only chemicals are added the soil gradually loses its organic matter and microbiotic activity. As this material is used up, the soil structure deteriorates, becoming compact, lifeless and less able to hold water and nutrients. These results in increased amounts needed to feed plants.

The use of organic fertilizers in agriculture serves as a pledge of ecological purity of cultivated products and allows it to grow and develop naturally. If mineral fertilizers serve only for plant nutrition, organic fertilizers both provide the necessary nutrition for the plant, and nourish the soil where they grow, preserve the structure of the soil, enrich it with microorganisms.

More convenient in application and much more useful for the environment organic fertilizers are intended not only for large farms, but also are an invaluable source of nutrition for personal and garden plots, greenhouses.

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