Fertilizer Optimizer

A tool to help you optimize your fertilizer investments

Welcome to the Fertilizer Optimizer app! This app will assist you in using fertilizer more efficiently to optimize your fertilizer investments. The app will ask you for information on crops grown, area planted, expected crop sale prices, fertilizers costs and the budget you have to invest in fertilizer products. Based on robust crop response functions, it will calculate the most profitable combination of fertilizers to purchase and advise you on crop and site specific application rates. The app can also take into account any integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) practices to tailor the fertilizer recommendation to your farm.

We’ve created the Fertilizer Optimizer app so that extension workers and farmers can have free access to fertilizer advice, on mobile devices. The app runs offline allowing you to perform optimization calculations in the field. The app will periodically check our servers for updates to the tool. The Fertilizer Optimizer has been produced for: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and is available to use in English, French and Portuguese

** Version 2 - Jan 2019 **

In the latest version of the Fertilizer Optimizer app you can calibrate the fertilizer recommendation to the planting conditions of your field. Version 1 of the app provided users with an amount of fertilizer to use and an application rate (e.g. 5kg per hectare). Now you can enter your field measurements, container sizes and your preferred application technique and the app will help you to evenly distribute the recommended fertilizers across your crop providing you with actionable information tailored to your field.

Acknowledgement

The original conceptualization and development of the optimization tool was by the university of Nebraska-Lincoln. Jansen J, Wortmann CS, Stockton MC, Kaizzi CK (2013). Maximizing net returns to financially constrained fertilizer use. Agronomy Journal 105 (3) 573-578

The Fertilizer Optimizer tool was built as part of the Optimising Fertilizer Recommendations in Africa (OFRA) project, led by CABI. The project was a partnership between CABI, the University of Nebraska Lincoln, national governments and agricultural research and extension systems in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. OFRA was supported by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). The development of the original tool into an App was supported by the BBSRC Global Challenges Research Fund (BBS/OS/GC/000014B) through a partnership with Rothamsted Research, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, QED and ICRAF. Version 2 was supported by a second round of funding from the BBSRC Global Challenges Research Fund (BBS/OS/GC/200014A) through a partnership with Rothamsted Research, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and QED.

Partners

The Fertilizer Optimizer tool was built as part of the Optimising Fertilizer Recommendations in Africa (OFRA) project, led by CABI. The project was a partnership between CABI, the University of Nebraska Lincoln, national governments and agricultural research and extension systems in 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. OFRA was supported by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). This app was funded by the Global Challenges Research Fund.

Fertilizer Optimizer developed by White October Ltd.