Key role of China and its agriculture in global sustainable phosphorus management

Growing global demand for food leads to increased pressure on phosphorus (P), a finite and dwindling resource. China is the largest producer and consumer of P fertilizer in the world. A mass balance analysis of historical P use on China's arable land shows that P input substantially exceeds crop P uptake leading to the accumulation of residual soil P.

A Dynamic P Pool Simulator (DPPS) model is applied to estimate future P demand in China's arable land. Our simulations show that more sustainable use of P accounting for the residual P can save ca. 20% of the P fertilizer needed until 2050 in China relative to the Rio + 20 Trend scenario. This saving would be equivalent to half of the P required in Africa or sufficient for Western Europe to achieve target crop P uptake in 2050.

Authors

S. Z. Sattari, M. K. van Ittersum, K. E. Giller (all WUR, NL) , F. Zhang (China Agricultural University, Beijing, China) and A. F. Bouwman (PBL and Faculty of Geosciences, University Utrecht)

Specifications

Publication title
Key role of China and its agriculture in global sustainable phosphorus management
Publication date
15 May 2014
Publication type
Publication
Magazine
Environmental Research Letters, Volume 9 (2014) Number 5
Product number
1475