"Green" technology and environmentally-friendly fertilizers are gradually replacing chemicals as Chinese scientists focus their research on improving the quality of farm produce.

A new type of biological fertilizer has been developed by experts in Beihai City, in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, consisting of 15 soil microbes which facilitate fermentation of organic matter, a process by which nutrients are produced.

Trial results show that the fertilizer will increase vegetable and fruit yields by six to 10 percent without polluting the environment.

Chinese fertilizer experts say that the new fertilizer is one of many Chinese-developed biological fertilizers which will be increasingly used in agriculture as the production technology develops.

A production line, which can manufacture 300,000 tons of biological fertilizer annually, started operation in May in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

China's biological fertilizer industry has boomed in the past decade, developing so fast that several big corporations have set up plants in various parts of the country.

Chinese peasants used to enrich the soil with farmyard manure before turning to chemical fertilizers. Statistics show that fertilizers used per unit land area in China is 160 percent of the world average now, threatening both the environment and quality of farm produce.

A survey on water pollution in China's rural areas shows that 10 to 15 percent of polluted water results from chemical fertilizers. Uncontrolled use of chemical fertilizer produces nitrates in underground water and is a health threat. Meanwhile, long-term use of chemical fertilizer will lead to soil acidification and reduce land fertility.

Experts with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) say that a campaign is needed to further popularize biological and environmentally-friendly fertilizer with Chinese peasants.

The development and promotion of biological fertilizers would greatly facilitate sustainable development, said CAAS researcher Ge Cheng.

Chinese manufacturing enterprises were striving to provide better technological guidance to farmers in using biological fertilizer, said Ge.

Yu Zhangji, professor with Guangxi University, said that biological fertilizer might derive from waste materials in sugar and paper production as well as sludge in sewage treatment.

Increasing use of biological fertilizers would help to form a healthy biological industrial chain in China, Yu said.

(ChinaEnvironment July 11, 2002)