Sustainability of farmers' soil fertility management practices: a case study in the North China Plain

To ensure regional self-sufficiency and adequate rural livelihoods in the North China Plain (NCP), tremendous efforts were made over the last two decades by the Chinese government to raise the productivity of crops, despite increasing pressure on the land caused by a growing population. Emphasis was placed on high external input use, especially for wheat, maize and cotton, ignoring the particularities and limitations of the natural resource base. This study assesses the sustainability of current soil fertility management practices on the basis of selected location-specific indicators, such as fertilizer use, soil pH, soil organic matter content, levels of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in the soil, and identifies determining factors of the yield and environmental impacts of inputs use. Data used for the analysis were gathered from soil tests, groundwater and chive plant tests, household surveys, and statistical yearbooks. Stepwise multiple regression analysis is applied to determine factors affecting the yields. The study revealed unbalanced use of nutrients. Organic fertilizers (manure, crop residues) and K are insufficiently applied, whereas N and P are considerably overused in comparison with recommended doses. The intensive cropping in the area using high-input technologies -particularly fertilizer- has resulted in a remarkable general enhancement of crop productivity and improvement of soil fertility over the years. The yield of wheat and maize has increased 173 and 180 kg ha(-1) annually from 1982 to 2000, respectively and soil fertility status also improved over the years and the values of the selected indicators are within the borderline for sustainability. Irrigation water, FYM application, and total labor used during the cultivation season (with the exception of cotton and chive) for production are the main factors determining the yields of four major crops under study, while popularly and overly used N did not appear to be a significant factor affecting the yield. Its overuse, however, leads to leaching of nitrate into groundwater and nitrate enrichment of vegetables. Of 20 groundwater samples, 16 showed nitrate levels between 55 and 180 mg l(-1), which exceeds recommendations for drinking water (