Nowadays we rarely hear or see farmers fertilizing their land with silica. However, recently silica fertilizer has been sold on the market at rather high prices
Jakarta (MidLand) – The National Agency for Research and Innovation (BRIN) is working on a research project on the benefits of fly ash or fly ash charcoal as an ameliorative material that works to improve soil quality and increase the production of shallot crops.
Ismon, a researcher at the BRIN Horticulture Research Center, said about 49% of power plants in Indonesia still use coal. In 2023, production fly ash AND heavy ash (FABA) reached 11.3 million tons, of which 80-90% was fly ash.
“This really requires a very high effort in managing this waste, but it has the potential to be used as an amelioration material or as a source of silica fertilizer,” he said in Jakarta on Monday.
Ismon explained that the current condition of agricultural land in Indonesia is deficient in silica content. This compound is lost from the soil through a desilication process due to very intense atmospheric agents and leaching, especially in tropical countries.
The dehydration process is becoming faster because so far farmers rarely return crop residues or straw to the land and no fertilizer made from silica is added.
According to government regulation number 22 of 2021, fly ash is no longer included in the B3 waste category. However, it is still rare for the agricultural sector to exploit the potential of fly ash.
Meanwhile, foreign countries, such as China, India and Japan, have long used fly ash as an ameliorative and produced it as zeolite.
In 2023, BRIN, through the research house program, optimized the use of fly ash as an improvement material for a sustainable shallot cultivation system in highlands and peatlands.
The research will continue to the stage of formulating organic materials into a formulation effective in improving soil quality, even in shallot areas.
Red onion production centers in Indonesia are generally located in arid highland lands, dominated by Andisol soil types. In andisol soil, the element phosphate is mainly related to the noncrystalline clay minerals allophane, imogolite, and ferrihydride.
High doses of organic matter are needed to release the fixed phosphate so the soil becomes fertile.
Ismon said that for shallots to produce maximum production in Andisol, very high levels of organic fertilizer are needed, ranging from 20 to 70 tons per hectare. The influence of organic materials on phosphate availability occurs directly through the mineralization process and indirectly aids in the release of fixed phosphorus.
Reporter: Sugiharto Purnama
Publisher: Indra Gultom
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