Organic fertilizer is a bit of a contentious issue in the agricultural market within South Africa at present. Many farmers consider the term ‘organic’ as a push by the rich Western market and their obsession with saving the environment – and they’re not wrong. In addition to this, organic fertilizers have not been solving the crisis of rising costs for both commercial and subsistence farmers in South Africa. Additionally, organic fertilizers have hardly broken into the fertile agricultural landscapes in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. So why should you – the humble farmer – use an organic fertilizer?
A: Because the environment really does benefit from organic.
Synthetic fertilizers are one of the factors responsible for destroying the environment. Whether it is by harming the local ecosystem to make space for more farmland, or by pumping synthetic fertilizers into the local water table, farming (in its efforts to feed the people, it should be said) is not exactly environmentally friendly. Using an organic fertilizer that is not harmful to either the local area’s water, the microorganisms in the soil, the birds, insects, critters and other fauna, is one way in which the farmer may assist in bettering farming’s reputation.
However, organic farming methods can actually be as harmful to the environment as commercial farming (as organic methods actually require more farming land), so we are not recommending that commercial farmers change their methods, only their products.
B: Because your soil’s health depends on organic fertilizer.
If you’re in the farming business, you’ve heard this before: Organic fertilizers lead to the development and growth of healthy microorganisms and bacteria in the soil. This is true on all accounts. Virgin soil is almost always more fertile than soil previously used in the same region for farming, and organic fertilizers are putting the nominal nutrients back into the land in an attempt to create a perfect ‘fallow’ environment. Synthetic fertilizers, which have been heavily used throughout the globe, target the nutrient requirements by the crop and plant, which may sometimes be at odds with the soil’s requirements. This results in what farmers (both subsistence and commercial) are experiencing all over southern Africa – soil infertility. This is because the fertilizers provided by the farmer for that season are measured exactly for that crop cycle. Nothing is provided to the soil.
A well-made organic fertilizer will be developed with the soil in mind, providing the correct NPK profile, alongside other nutrients and minerals, that maintain the perfect soil structure for that region. In South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland and some of Botswana, the arable land used for crop agriculture has a soil structure that is called alfisol (according to the USDA soil taxonomy system). It is largely similar in nutrient and mineral structure from South Africa all the way to Tanzania. It is with this NPK profile that BioAge organic fertilizer and stimulant is produced.
C: Because it is becoming cost effective.
There is a major conflict in Ukraine, one of the world’s richest agricultural regions, putting huge strain on food markets in Europe. This means that European farmers are under pressure to provide for a European market with rising food costs, who in turn are looking toward synthetic fertilizer manufacturers. And their issue? A lot of the manure-based fertilizers are from Eastern Europe (Russia and Ukraine). Result: huge rise in costs of agricultural fertilizer worldwide as there is less product and more demand.
This is the stage whereby local organic fertilizer producers may just prove to be cost-effective for both commercial and subsistence farmers, or even small-scale farmers and hobbyists.
BioAge organic fertilizers and stimulants are made in southern Africa, and they are made wholly organically within a laboratory environment. They are designed to improve the soil structure without harming microbial life, retaining the perfect alisol NPK structure, providing additives to a plant’s requirements for increased root growth, photosynthesis and crop yield. Furthermore, they are cost effective and competitively priced next to synthetic fertilizers.
Take a look at our organic fertilizers, plant stimulants and herbicide page.
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