Open AccessImproving phosphorus sustainability of sugarcane production in Brazil
Author(s) -
Soltangheisi Amin,
Withers Paul J. A.,
Pavinato Paulo Sergio,
Cherubin Maurício Roberto,
Rossetto Raffaella,
Do Carmo Janaina Braga,
Rocha Gustavo Casoni,
Martinelli Luiz Antonio
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
gcb bioenergy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.378
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1757-1707
pISSN - 1757-1693
DOI - 10.1111/gcbb.12650
Subject(s) - sustainability , business , food security , production (economics) , environmental science , bioenergy , agroforestry , stewardship (theology) , biofuel , agricultural science , natural resource economics , agricultural engineering , microbiology and biotechnology , agriculture , engineering , economics , biology , ecology , politics , political science , law , macroeconomics
Phosphorus (P) use in global food and bioenergy production needs to become more efficient and sustainable to reduce environmental impacts and conserve a finite and critical resource (Carpenter & Bennett, Environmental Research Letters , 2011, 6 , 014009; Springmann et al., Nature , 2018, 562 , 519). Sugarcane is one crop with a large P footprint because production is centered on P‐fixing soils with low P availability (Roy et al., Nature Plants , 2016, 2 , 16043; Withers et al., Scientific Reports , 2018, 8 , 2537). As global demand for processed sugar and bioethanol continues to increase, we advocate that improving P efficiency could become a key sustainability goal for the sugarcane industry. Here, we applied the 5R global P stewardship framework (Withers et al., Ambio , 2015, 44 , 193) to identify more sustainable options to manage P in Brazilian sugarcane production. We show that current inputs of P fertilizer to the current crop area could be reduced by over 305 Gg, or 63%, over the next three decades by reducing unnecessary P fertilizer use, better utilization of recyclable bioresources and redesigning recommendation systems. Adoption of these 5R options would save the sugarcane industry in Brazil 528 US$ million and help safeguard global food and energy security.