Expert: Richard Clark - 3/1/2010

Question
Mr. Richard,
 How can the fertility of land be improved in tropical, sub-tropical and other regions of the world? Are chemical fertizers including urea and others good for the soil (including in the long run) as well as the crops (including their quality) in comparison to the biological ones including cow dung and others?

Answer
Lets start with the tropical and sub-tropical areas first. With so much rain most of the fertilizer is washed away. Then again plants decay and produce a small amounts of nutrients that will help the next crops grow. Now if you were to add nitrogen, pot ash and potassium in the correct amount, you would see a tremendous amount of growth in the plant life. Using cow dung and decaying plant matter, you will not get enough fertilizer for the plants to produce the way you will with chemicals. Too much of the chemicals is not good for the soil but not enough is not going to produce the amount you may want.
Now if you are to try raising crops in a dry area you will need to control the water along with the amount of fertiliZer you must apply. With too much or too little of each one you will not get the production you might expect.
It is a long slow process of building the soil up to where it will be producing just on its own.
Hope this is some help to you.
Richard