Alternatives to strengthen agricultural production

During the productive process of the agricultural sector, large volumes of waste are generated, which are little used elements, these organic resources can be recycled to transform them into organic fertilizers and enjoy the benefits they can bring, optimizing the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the soils. In this sense, ideas can be presented that are focused on materializing projects with the aim of developing factories for the processing and marketing of agricultural bio-inputs at low costs, strengthening food production (fruits and vegetables) free of chemical residues.

Taking into account that the use of chemical products is expensive and their indiscriminate use affects soil conditions, and even human and animal health, worm humus (liquid and solid), organic leachates, compost, among others, can be produced, providing an option on the market that allows mitigating the use of synthetic fertilizers, taking into account that the environment represents a latent market that few companies have been responsible for taking advantage of.

Therefore, it is important to offer an alternative and lower-cost product, with the same or better conditions than those containing synthetic chemicals made by multinationals that offer a counterproductive technological package to human activities, this represents a comparative advantage at the time of offering the organic fertilizer, it is efficient and provides a greater profitability to the producer by providing a high percentage of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and carbon sources.

To give an example of the waste generated, in the municipality of Colón in the State of Zulia, a geographical area where livestock activity predominates, in addition to the production of bananas and other fruit crops, there is a population of approximately 378,280 cattle which can generate 562 tons of excrement monthly and 6,744 tons per year. This bovine manure by-product is usually accumulated in the production units without any type of treatment, underestimating the benefits it could provide when returned to the ecosystem, in addition to not providing adequate management could generate health problems for both human and animal health, and pollution of nearby aquifers. Currently, these wastes are dumped in places that do not meet any sanitary requirements and in turn are polluting the environment.

The residues originated from animals and vegetables are elements little used by the producer because the population of agricultural producers does not know the benefits contained in these residues that added to the land optimize its chemical, physical and biological characteristics, in addition they do not have a company that can develop an organic fertilizer that meets the appropriate chemical and sanitary characteristics to be used in crops.

For the aforementioned reasons, it is important to highlight that fertilization in recent years has been a critical point for producers in the area, since they have adopted a model of conventional practices that create dependence on external inputs, therefore it is imperative to take advantage of crop residues, animal excreta, indigenous microorganisms, which are local resources that are available in the area and can be converted with very simple techniques into the main source of nutrients for agroecosystems.

Dear readers, to put this type of alternatives or projects it is important the training of human talent to develop intellectual capacities for the innovation of productive techniques, in this case universities should establish research lines that allow solving the problems faced by the producer in the field of fertilization of their crops based on local resources that can be satisfactory to cover the nutritional needs of crops.