Five major bottlenecks facing the development of water-soluble fertilizers: how can China's industry break through?
On December 21, the "2014 China Water-Soluble Fertilizer Development Symposium," hosted by the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, was held in Guangzhou, with more than 100 representatives from water-soluble fertilizer production and operation enterprises, universities, research institutions and government competent departments across the country attending the meeting. The Petrochemical and Chemical Division of the Raw Materials Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also sent personnel to attend the meeting. This meeting summarized the achievements made in China's water-soluble fertilizer development in recent years, conducted an in-depth analysis of the current difficulties and problems in water-soluble fertilizer development, and put forward many suggestions on how to promote the healthy development of the water-soluble fertilizer industry.
With the widespread application of integrated water and fertilizer technology, China's water-soluble fertilizer industry has developed vigorously, the number of water-soluble fertilizer production enterprises has grown rapidly, and product promotion has achieved remarkable results. At present, China has a large number of water-soluble fertilizer registrations and enterprises, but the operating rate is low and the utilization rate is low. The main factors constraining China's water-soluble fertilizer development are: first, backward production technology and a weak research and development foundation; second, relatively high production costs and logistics costs; third, severe product homogenization; fourth, a lack of water-soluble fertilizer product standards; fifth, insufficient service investment by enterprises for farmers.
Regarding how China's water-soluble fertilizers should develop in the future, the attending representatives suggested: first, establish a special program for water-soluble fertilizers and increase support for the construction of irrigation and fertilization facilities and storage tanks; second, carry out industry-university-research cooperation, accelerate the pace of scientific and technological innovation in water-soluble fertilizers, and accelerate the promotion of integrated water and fertilizer technology; third, improve water-soluble fertilizer product standards, strengthen the control of impurities in products, avoid polluting soil with toxic and harmful substances, and improve the utilization rate of water-soluble fertilizers; fourth, actively cultivate the water-soluble fertilizer market, innovate marketing and service models, and promote the scientific application of water-soluble fertilizers and market development.