Fertiliser use is. increasing fit developing world

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DESPITE environmental pressure against the use of
chemical fertilisers, world fertiliser production increased
to 158 million tonnes in 1989, which is a 32 per cent
increase over production in 1982. However, in some
Northern countries, fertiliser output declined because of
controls on Crop production imposed in the 1980s as a
result of low grain prices. Statistics show the developing
countries are fast catching up with the North in both production and consumption of such fertilisers. More ominous are predictions that consumption of all categories of
fertilisers will continue to increase in the South. India
and China will continue to account for most of the
increase in the world's consumption of nitrogen fertilisers. Asian rice-growing countries are expected to increase
use of potash fertilisers to compensate for loss of potash
content in the soil as a result of high use of nitrogen fertilisers. On the other hand, attempts to set standards on
nitrate pollution in groundwater because of heavy use of
nitrogen fertilisers, has reduced their use in the European
Community.