14.3. Composts

FFTC (1997) reports, concerning the Asia and Pacific region, that “there is also an urgent need to reduce pollution from agricultural wastes. One means of dealing with them is to compost them and use the compost as fertilizer. Very efficient composting methods are required for this purpose. Malodorous gases emitted during the treatment of livestock manure or agro-industrial waste can cause serious air pollution. There are various means of controlling such odours.

There are a number of composting plants. Their products are often of poor quality and also contain unknown quantities of chemical fertilizers, in proportions unsuited to crop needs. There is an urgent need to define standards for organic fertilizers.

Because of the difficulty of quality control, most commercial organic fertilizers are not covered by the type of national standards which govern the quality of chemical fertilizers”.