CHOOSING the right type of inorganic fertilisers for a bountiful harvest and fruit development can be quite a challenge for plantation managers, farmers, horticulturalists or even plant lovers.

With rising prices of inorganic fertilisers due to higher costs of raw materials from overseas and transportation, it is getting harder to obtain cheaper, yet sustainable, inorganic fertilisers.

GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME: CRFs are being used extensively in lawns, turfs and golf courses .

ccording to statistics, the 2008 price of inorganic fertilisers had increased 200 per cent over that of early 2007. This has adversely affected production costs and cut into the profits of crop producers, sparking demands for cheaper but no less effective inorganic fertilisers for crop production.

One of the easiest methods to enhance inorganic fertilisers’ effectiveness is to delay the release of nutrients (from the fertilisers). From this idea has emerged the invention of controlled release fertilisers (CRFs).

Unfortunately, most oil palm plantations, reforestation companies, horticulturalists, farmers and plant lovers cannot afford CRFs due to their high price. According to a survey, barely one per cent of them is using CRFs.

However, this may soon be a thing of the past. A new company, SK Specialties Sdn Bhd, formed two years ago, aims to produce its own CRFs and market them under its flagship brand, SK Cote, at affordable prices.

“We are the first CRFs producer in Malaysia, employing one of the latest technologies whereby the coating process does not require solvents, thus cutting production costs and increasing the safety aspects,” its managing director Adrian Wong Ling Yung told thesundaypost.

Wong, who holds a chemical engineering and commerce degree from Monash University, Australia, said SK Specialties was still on a trial run and in a commissioning stage of producing CRFs.

“We are confident of coming up with a first full batch of 10,000 tonnes of CRFs by November for both local and foreign markets.”

He revealed initially, the company had set a modest target of 10,000 tonnes per year, adding: “At SK Specialties, we bring to the Malaysian agriculture and horticulture industry its first locally made high-value CRFs.”

Wong said the move was in line with the government’s call on the local entrepreneurs to go into the small and medium industry.

“Hopefully, with our little expertise, we will be able to help contribute towards the country’s agricultural development whereby farmers can reap higher yields with lower overheads.”

According to Wong, SK Cote is marketed in three categories — SK Cote Premium, SK Cote Blend and SK Cote Single.

SK Cote Premium is fully-coated controlled release NPK fertiliser with balanced nutrition; SK Cote Blend is controlled release NPK fertiliser blended with instant release fertiliser while SK Cote Single is premium single element controlled release fertiliser.

He said the latest solvent free coating technology used to produce SK Cote had enabled the company to market it at a significantly lower price compared to imported CRFs.

“While imported CRFs are priced at RM6,000 to RM8,000 per tonne, SK Cote products range from RM3,500 to RM6,000 per tonne. With lower price, hopefully, we will have a significant impact on food production in the foreseeable future.”

Currently, Wong said they were collaborating with researchers from China and Australia to achieve technological breakthroughs in fine-tuning CRFs production.

“Hopefully, this on-going collaboration will help decrease coating thickness while maintaining controlled release quality.”

Moreover, Wong said SK Specialties was looking for local crop producers such as oil palm plantation and reforestation companies to research the use of SK Cote as a means of providing plant nutrition.

“It is hoped this will have a positive impact on local agriculture via a significant reduction in production costs, coupled with the additional benefits of being environment-friendly and sustainable.”

Wong said CRFs, beginning with sulfur-coated urea, had actually been in the global market for the past 12 years.

“The early sulfur-coated materials did not always give a uniform response either because the coating sometimes might have cracked or have uneven thickness, allowing the fertiliser granules to break down at different times.”

However, he added, newer generations of CRFs had resin coats that produced a better controlled release of the fertiliser.

Many different types of CRFs are available and products differ in technologies by which nutrients are contained, and released via the environment stimulus. Other than that, the advantages are basically similar.

These include lesser requirement for application, uniform particle size to facilitate mechanical distribution, flexibility of release periods from two months to a year, reduction of human capital and labour costs as well as nutrient loss and Greenhouse Gas emission from transportation of fertilisers.

Above all, CRFs are released at a slower rate throughout the season, hence ensuring plants are able to take up most of the fertilisers without waste through leaching.

Relatively, normal inorganic fertiliser, once mixed with water, will dissolve immediately and end up in the waterways, causing pollution.

CRFs are broadly defined as products that release nutrients to the soil for plant uptake at a pre-determined time and rate.

The benefits include increased crops production, nutrient efficiency and quality as well as reductions of plant toxicity and stress, pollution of soil, and fertiliser applications costs.

Wong said crops such as vegetables and fruits used the most fertilisers.

“CRFs have been tried and tested on many different crops. So far, they have proven successful and cost-effective.”

For oil palms, CRFs had already been the norm in nurseries, he noted.

Though CRFs were used as nutrients for oil palms only recently, Wong said trials had been done to gauge their efficiency and in comparison with conventional fertilisers.

Currently, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been voicing concern over Greenhouse Gas emissions from oil palm plantations.

“One of the major causes of Greenhouse Gas emission in oil palm plantations is fertilisation. This is because most fertilisers are imported and the transportation of these fertilisers will release Greenhouse Gases.

“By using CRFs, Greenhouse Gas emissions will be further reduced and lead to sustainable production of palm oil,” he said.