Integrated Nutrient Management, Soil Fertility and Sustainable Agriculture: Current Issues and Future Challenges

Lim ited avail abil ity of ad di tional land for crop pro duc tion, along with de clin ing yield growth for ma jor food crops, have heightened con cerns about ag ri cul ture's abil ity to feed a world popula tion ex pected to ex ceed 7.5 bil lion by the year 2020.Decreas ing soil fer til ity has also raised con cerns about the sus tain abil ity of ag ri cul tural pro duc tion at cur rent lev els.Future strate gies for in creas ing ag ri cul tural pro duc tiv ity will have to fo cus on us ing avail able nu tri ent re sources more ef fi ciently, ef fec tively, and sus taina bly than in the past.In te grated manage ment of the nu tri ents needed for proper plant growth, together with ef fec tive crop, wa ter, soil, and land man age ment, will be criti cal for sus tain ing ag ri cul ture over the long term.In te grated nu tri ent man age ment (INM) is an ap proach that seeks to both in crease ag ri cul tural pro duc tion and safe guard the en vi ron ment for fu ture gen era tions.It is a strat egy that in cor porates both or ganic and in or ganic plant nu tri ents to at tain higher crop pro duc tiv ity, pre vent soil deg ra da tion, and thereby help meet fu ture food sup ply needs.It re lies on nu tri ent ap pli ca tion and con ser va tion, new tech nolo gies to in crease nu tri ent availabil ity to plants, and the dis semi na tion of knowl edge be tween farm ers and re search ers.The suc cess of INM will de pend upon the com bined ef forts of farm ers, re search ers, ex ten sion agents, gov ern ments, and non gov ern men tal or gani za tions (NGOs).