Low Concentrated P- and K-based Fertilizers for Localized Agricultural Supply Chains

Fertilizer can be made of organic materials like animal or green manure. However, such materials are less than 1% of total fertilizers worldwide. Instead, fertilizers are usually compounds of inorganic components based on nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) elements, forming the so-called NPK-fertilizer. Natural gas is the resource for N-based fertilizer plants producing ammonia and urea. On the contrary, for P and K components, mined from concentrated mineral reservoirs, their production is restricted to local producers where high levels of P- and K-based concentrated reservoirs are abundant. Concentrated mineral reservoirs of P-based components are mostly found in China and Morocco. K-based ones are largely located in Canada and China. NPK-based fertilizers can be blended to create a finished agriculture production input to be sold within a global market supply chain of fertilizers. However, we suggest something different. Localized supply chains of low concentrated fertilizers of P- and K-bases can be an option for agricultural sites. The non-metallic mineral mining reservoirs of the so-called agriminerals or rock-for-crops are worth exploring by localized final consumers in the agricultural supply chain. Brazil is the world's largest importer of fertilizers due to its thick and nutrient-depleted tropical soils. By mapping locations of natural resources and agricultural sites in the State of Mato Grosso (represents 30% of grains production in Brazil), we suggest a capacity expansion of processing plants connected to the natural resource sites of low concentrated agri-minerals and the distribution of the final processed product to the fertilizer end-use stage among local farmers.