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Impact of Fertilisers on Environment
Despite these concerns, the world’s population continues to expand and global agriculture can barely cope with its key task of providing people with food. The global demand for food increases with every year. In addition to soaring population levels, this growing demand is triggered by improved living standards in emerging countries, especially in China and India. Moreover, some countries, primarily the U.S., are expanding ethanol and biodiesel production based on agricultural products. Since the agricultural sector requires increased food output per unit of land in the context of a shortage of arable land, producers are focused on preserving and enhancing soil productivity.
The global agricultural industry uses three types of mineral fertilisers: nitrogen, phosphate and potash fertilisers. They contain only the basic macronutrients necessary for all plants. Industrially manufactured fertilisers provide plants with the required nutrients in digestible form. The public and environmental safety of fertilisers should be regulated by governments in addition to the controls implemented by producers.
All the Group’s products are supported by quality and safety certificates and conform to the state standards and technical requirements of Russia (Acron and Dorogobuzh) and China (Hongri Acron). The mineral fertilisers produced by the Group’s Russian facilities are registered with Rosselkhoznadzor (the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance) as agricultural chemicals. |
Agriculture has the greatest environmental impact of all types of economic activity, mainly because it is so land-intensive. Today, little undeveloped arable land remains on Earth. A wide variety of factors hinders the cultivation of new land, including low soil quality, arid climate, lack of infrastructure and environmental restrictions. Modern agriculture has caused significant environmental damage, primarily through deforestation. In many regions, further deforestation may lead to environmental disaster.
During agricultural use, the soil content of certain macronutrients required for plant nutrition decreases, making mineral fertilisers vital in agriculture. The application of mineral fertilisers is indispensable not only in countries such as China, where urbanisation is reducing the availability of land resources, but also in countries like Brazil, where cultivated land area is on the rise due to reclamation of new land. The variety of organic fertilisers is quite limited, and as a result the amelioration of soil fertility chiefly depends on the application of mineral fertilisers produced from phosphates, potash and natural gas.
Acron Group’s production facilities operate under a quality management system designed in accordance with international standards. Product quality control at the Group’s production facilities is performed by qualified services and labs that also constantly monitor the quality of inputs, materials, and operating procedures. In October 2009, Acron’s Centre for Industrial and Sanitary Control was inspected and its technical expertise and quality management system were found to be in compliance with ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) and APLAC (Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) requirements.