Manufacturing processes vary, with raw materials including air, water, natural gas and mineral deposits like rock phosphate.
A full production run is required to make a specific grade of a fertiliser, and this means only one grade can be produced at a time.Therefore, to produce different grades would mean that the factory would have to clean the lines after every grade to manufacture the next one.This is true even for the blended products. For this reason, it is not commercially viable for a factory to manufacture hundreds or thousands of grades to suit the soil needs of every other farmer.Application of fertilisers is meant to principally feed the crops and not the soil.Therefore, it is more important to consider the crop’s nutrient requirements, and supply them using a specific fertiliser.Different crops have different nutrient requirements, therefore, this should be considered when deciding what fertiliser to apply.Soil test results will help you in choosing a fertiliser to use, but their usefulness is limited if they are used as a stand-alone decision making factor for deciding the fertiliser type to apply.Instead, the crop nutrient requirement should offer the background and the application of a crop specific fertiliser considered, and the rates adjusted based on the local soil conditions as well as the yield targets.So, the more your yield target, the higher the rate of the nutrients (fertiliser) you would have to apply.Therefore, crop specific fertilisers, with rates adjusted for the soils conditions will certainly give you better value in your maize and coffee farming business.For crop-specific fertiliser recommendations, please consult your Yara Agronomist near you or the Yara-accredited stockists and distributors in your area.
A maize farmer ploughing his maize crop. Photo www.agricnation.com