10 World's Largest Countries Using Chemical Fertilizers

10 World's Largest Countries Using Chemical Fertilizers- According to FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT), there are 10 World's Largest Countries Using Chemical Fertilizers in 2021. Basically, these countries have large agricultural land and still fully depend on chemical fertilizers to help to increase the productivity of the plant.

Commonly, chemical fertilizer is the indispensable agricultural input in cultivating the crops or trees. Broadly, many farmers in the world still used the chemical fertilizer to get the best harvesting output (quantity and quality). Without chemical fertilizers in managing the crops or trees, the growth and yield of the crops or trees can’t be optimized or below the common average yield.

According to Eurostat, A chemical fertilizer / synthetic fertilizer is defined as fertilizer manufactured by a chemical/industrial process or mined as opposed to organic material that contains carbon. Commonly, chemical fertilizer was made in the factory with a specific chemical process. Based on its nutrition content, chemical fertilizer is rich in some essential nutrients including Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium which is needed for plant growth.

Some of the types of chemical fertilizer commonly divided into nutrient content. Some of the types of chemical fertilizer:

1. Nitrogen Fertilizer

The example of nitrogen fertilizer are (Urea (CO(NH₂)₂), Ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃), Anhydrous ammonia (NH3), Ammonium sulphate ((NH₄)₂SO₄), Potassium nitrate (KNO₃), Calcium ammonium nitrate (5Ca(NO3)2.NH4NO3.10H2O), Calcium nitrate (Ca(NO₃)₂ₓ), Sodium nitrate (NaNO ₃), Ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl), and other forms)

 

2. Phosphate Fertilizer

Some of the examples of Phosphate Fertilizer are Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), Monoammonium Phosphate (MAP), Phosphoric acid, Ammonium Polyphosphate (APP), Triple superphosphate (TSP), Superphosphate and other forms.

 

3. Potash Fertilizer

Some of the potash fertilizers are Potassium chloride (KCl), potassium nitrate (KNO3), Potassium sulphate (K2SO4), Potassium-magnesium sulphate (K2SO4-2MgSO4),

Potassium thiosulfate (K2S2O3), and other forms.

 

4. Other chemical Fertilizer

Another form of this fertilizer is micronutrient fertilizer which contains micronutrient for the crops or plant. Some of the examples are Ferrous sulphate, Boric acid, Manganese sulphate, Zinc sulphate, Sodium molybdate, and others.

In this article, we just divided into 3 kinds of fertilizer, namely Nitrogen Fertilizer, Phosphate Fertilizer, and Potash Fertilizer. These 3 types of fertilizer are widely used all over countries in this world. Many Farmers depend on these 3 types of fertilizer.  Functionally, Nitrogen, Phosphate, and Potassium are the macronutrients which are commonly needed by crops / plants in large quantities. In plant science, some of the macronutrients for plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and iron (Epstein and Bloom, 1853). Scientifically, the deficiencies of a macronutrient in plants resulted in morphological alterations of the physical properties of the plants, causing decreases in growth and dry matter mass / yield, or quality of plants (Tripathi et al., 2014).

 

 

The World’s Largest Countries Using Nitrogen Chemical Fertilizers
 

Rank	Countries	Total Application of Nitrogen Fertilizer in 2021
		(Tons)
1	China, mainland	21,276,430
2	India	19,488,300
3	United States of America	11,884,684
4	Brazil	6,700,508
5	Indonesia	3,669,339
6	Pakistan	3,533,784
7	Canada	2,830,000
8	Russian Federation	1,916,418
9	France	1,839,229
10	Türkiye	1,787,348
Source : FAOSTAT, 2023

 

 

According to FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT) in 2021, the usage of chemical fertilizer of nitrogen in 2021 dominated by China, mainland applying nitrogen around 21.2 million tons, followed by India with 19.4 million tons, United States of America with 11.8 million tons, Brazil with 6.7 million tons, Indonesia with 3.6 million tons. 

The usage of nitrogen fertilizer is the main addition to support the plant growth. Scientifically, nitrogen (N) is one of the most important mineral nutrients in plants. Functionally, nitrogen makes up part of the chlorophyll in plants (Xu et al., 2012). Furthermore, nitrogen is the component of amino acids, which affect the form and structure of plant proteins and enzymes.

 

The World’s Largest Countries Using Phosphate (P₂O₅) Chemical Fertilizers

Rank	Countries	Total Application of Phosphate (P2O5) Fertilizer in 2021
		(Tons)
1	China, mainland	10,094,566
2	India	7,828,500
3	Brazil	6,623,589
4	United States of America	3,930,509
5	Pakistan	1,204,060
6	Indonesia	1,197,578
7	Bangladesh	1,113,660
8	Canada	1,094,000
9	Australia	957,503
10	Argentina	885,448
Source : FAOSTAT, 2023

 

In terms of phosphate fertilizer, according to FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT) in 2021, the usage of chemical fertilizer of phosphate in 2021 dominated by China, mainland applying phosphate around 10 million tons, followed with India 7.8 million tons, Brazil 6.6 million tons, United States of America 3.9 million tons, and Pakistan 1.2 million tons.

Scientifically, in plants, Phosphate is one of the main components in the plants. Phosphate is the second essential macronutrient required for plant growth and development alongside nitrogen (Roch et al., 2019). Functionally, Phosphates (P) constitute the structural skeleton of plant biomolecules such as ATP, NADPH, nucleic acids, phospholipids, and sugar-phosphates for the primary and secondary plant metabolisms (Zhang et al., 2009).

 

The World’s Largest Countries Using Potash (K₂O) Chemical Fertilizers

Rank	Countries	Total Application of Photash (K2O) Fertilizer in 2021
		(Tons)
1	China, mainland	9,431,036
2	Brazil	8,198,403
3	United States of America	4,491,989
4	India	2,529,500
5	Indonesia	2,476,640
6	Malaysia	1,134,317
7	Canada	899,000
8	Thailand	675,035
9	Viet Nam	578,928
10	France	508,046
Source : FAOSTAT, 2023

 

In terms of potassium fertilizer, according to FAO Statistical Corporate Database (FAOSTAT) in 2021, the usage of chemical fertilizer of potassium / kalium in 2021 dominated by China, mainland with 9.4 million tons, Brazil 8.1 million tons, United States of America 4.4 million tons, India 2.5 million tons, and Indonesia 2.4 million tons.

Potassium (K+) is one of the essential macronutrients that is necessary for plant performance, and it constitutes up to 10% of plant biomass (Adams and Shin, 2014). Functionally, potassium plays critical roles in controlling ion homeostasis, osmoregulation, protein metabolism, enzyme activity, membrane polarization, and various metabolic processes (Amtmann et al., 2006). Furthermore, important physiological processes in plants, namely photosynthesis, photorespiration, and growth process are mostly affected by K+ availability (Gattward et al., 2012).

 

 

Bibliography of 10 World's Largest Countries Using Chemical Fertilizers

 

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Amtmann A., Hammond J.P., Armengaud P., White P.J. Nutrient sensing and signalling in plants: Potassium and phosphorus. Adv. Bot. Res. 2006;43:209–257

Bessa, L.A., Silva, F.G., Moreira, M.A., Teodoro, J.P.R. and Soares, F.A.L., 2012. Characterization of the effects of macronutrient deficiencies in mangabeira seedlings. Revista Brasileira de Fruticultura, 34, pp.1235-1244.

Buchholz, D. 2023. Nitrogen in the Plant. Accessed via https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/wq259#:~:text=Nitrogen%20makes%20up%20part%20of,make%20sugars%20for%20the%20planet . on October 11th, 2023.

Epstein, E. and Bloom, A.J., 1853. Mineral nutrition of plants: principles and perspectives. Sinauer.

Eurostat. Fertilizer. Accessed via https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Glossary:Fertiliser on October 10th, 2023.

FAOSTAT. 2023. Fertilizers by Nutrient. Accessed via https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/RFN/visualize  on October 10th, 2023.

Gattward J.N., Almeida A.A., Souza J.O., Jr., Gomes F.P., Kronzucker H.J. 2012. Sodium-potassium synergism in Theobroma cacao: stimulation of photosynthesis, water-use efficiency and mineral nutrition. Physiol. Plant. 2012;146:350–362.

Roch, G. V., Maharajan, T., Ceasar, S. A., and Ignacimuthu, S. (2019). The Role of PHT1 Family transporters in the acquisition and redistribution of phosphorus in plants. CRC. Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 38, 171–198. doi: 10.1080/07352689.2019.1645402

Tripathi, D.K., Singh, V.P., Chauhan, D.K., Prasad, S.M. and Dubey, N.K., 2014. Role of macronutrients in plant growth and acclimation: recent advances and future prospective. Improvement of Crops in the Era of Climatic Changes: Volume 2, pp.197-216.

Xu G, Fan X, Miller AJ. 2012. Plant nitrogen assimilation and use efficiency. Annual Review of Plant Biology 63, 153–182.

Zhang, H., Yang, Y., Sun, C., Liu, X., Lv, L., Hu, Z., et al. (2020). Up-regulating GMETO1 improves phosphorus uptake and use efficiency by promoting root growth in soybean. Plant Cell Environ. 43, 2080–2094. doi: 10.1111/pce.13816.