South Africa’s farmers aren’t yet replacing chemical fertilisers with sustainable alternatives – this is why

By Mokgadi Miranda Hlongwane, Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, Tshwane University of Technology

The growing use of toxic agricultural chemicals including fertilisers is also driving a scaling up of sustainable agrochemical alternatives.

In South Africa, I’ve been exploring why small-scale farmers resist switching to these more cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions, such as “biological fertilisers”. Rural small-scale farmers are hesitant about these non-toxic bacterial alternatives because they aren’t readily available or widely understood.

One…

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