Organic fertilizers, made from materials such as crop residues and livestock manure, can both utilize waste resources and improve soil quality. However, the production of organic fertilizers is constrained by various factors, including technology and environmental conditions, presenting numerous challenges and hindering their large-scale adoption.
The primary challenge is controlling the fermentation process, which is the most critical stage in organic fertilizer production. Organic fertilizer fermentation requires precise control of parameters such as the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, humidity, and temperature. The carbon-to-nitrogen ratio needs to be maintained between 25:1 and 30:1, humidity around 60%, and temperature stable at 55-65℃ to kill pathogens and insect eggs. Households or small workshops often lack professional equipment, leading to imbalances in the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, resulting in slow fermentation, or insufficient temperature for complete decomposition. Incompletely decomposed organic fertilizer applied to the soil will undergo secondary fermentation, burning the roots of crops.
Raw material processing and proportioning are also challenging. Organic fertilizer raw materials are diverse, and the nutrient content and decomposition rates of different materials vary significantly. Improper proportioning can lead to unbalanced nutrient content in the finished fertilizer. Furthermore, raw materials may contain impurities such as plastics and stones, which, if not thoroughly sorted, will affect the quality of the organic fertilizer; pollutants such as heavy metals and antibiotics in livestock manure, if not properly treated, will enter the soil with the organic fertilizer, causing secondary pollution.
Odor and environmental control are also difficult. During fermentation, microorganisms decompose organic matter, producing malodorous gases such as ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, which not only pollute the surrounding environment but also affect human health. In large-scale production, the lack of complete deodorization equipment can easily lead to environmental complaints; small-scale producers find it difficult to bear the cost of deodorization, thus limiting the production process.
Maintaining consistent product quality is another challenge. High-quality organic fertilizer needs to meet requirements such as adequate nutrient content, low impurities, and no harmful residues. However, subtle changes in the fermentation degree and raw material proportions during the production process can affect the quality of the finished product. Most small-scale producers lack testing capabilities and cannot accurately control the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium content and pollutant indicators of the finished product, resulting in inconsistent organic fertilizer quality and limited market acceptance.
To overcome the difficulties in organic fertilizer production, it is necessary to optimize the proportioning based on the characteristics of the raw materials, standardize the organic fertilizer production process with professional equipment, and implement environmental protection facilities to control pollution. Only by overcoming these challenges can we promote the standardized production of organic fertilizers and fully realize their ecological and agricultural value.
