Biofertilizer: An Ultimate Solution for the Sustainable Development of Agriculture

Abstract

Global warming and climate change are the most potent cause of natural disasters like droughts, high temperature, extreme cold in some places, rising ocean level. One of the most important cause of these disasters are poor cropping patterns and extensive use of agrochemicals. These chemical fertilizers increase the level of salts in the soil and also make the soil acidic. In the era of modern agriculture the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers to increase the production of food across the globe deteriorated the original productivity of soil. These chemical fertilizers are like instant food for plant because they instantly provide nutrition to the plants and help the plant to grow rapidly and at a faster pace. Chemical fertilizer are nutrients which are readily soluble and instantly available to plants, therefore usually the effect is direct and fast. Due to its high nutrient content, only relatively small amount are required for crop development and growth. Over application can result in harmful effects such as leaching, water resource pollution, microorganism and friendly insect’s destruction. The substitute to chemically made fertilizers are naturally occurring microorganisms that can be grown and multiply in laboratories to produce biofertilizers, which can serve as an efficient, effective and economical way for the better production of crops when World Health Organization has predicted that the population will be increased to 9.6 billion in the next 30 years and the food production should be increased by 50 percent. In recent years the biofertilizer emerged as a potential component to fix the nitrogen present in air and solubilize the phosphorous and promote plant growth. And also, these biofertilizers have the ability to make the environment clean by bioremediation. These plant growths promoting microorganisms (PGPMs) like bacteria, algae and fungus promote the sustainable development approach provided by United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) which was held in Paris in 2015. The study reviews these efficient, eco-friendly, economical and sustainable nutrients which have the potential for the better production of crops, and it is based on several relevant literatures and reviews and research work carried out by several prominent researchers in this field.