Abstracto

Consequences of COVID19 pandemic on plant nutrition and agricultural sustainability

Pravat Utpal Acharjee

At current level of only food grain production of 2720 million tonnes (FAO, 2020) around the world, there is a large demand of mineral nutrient fertilizers which is projected to increase from 175 million tonnes to 199 million tonnes in 2030 (FAO, 2000a, 2005).However, this demand is expected to increase even more, along with other necessary agricultural inputs, especially pesticides, in coming years to cope up with huge decline of 24.7 million tonnes in cereal utilization due to global pandemic of COVID19, imposing a number of harmful consequences on both human health and ecological balance in the environment (Sharma and Singhvi, 2017), during their production, application and post application. Therefore, in this alarming situation of economically viableagricultural productionwith minimalistic hazardous approaches to the environment, concept of integrated co-application sustainable and non-conventional sources with conventional ones, for plant nutrition along with conservation practices may come up with potentials for commercial success in agricultural sector in the long run. This study thus aims to discuss different recommendations of such alternate sources and practices, their applications around the world and how they can become viable options of food security for a post pandemic world of COVID19.