DOI: 10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7qh
title: Global data on fertilizer use by crop and by country

description: Understanding how much inorganic fertilizer (referred to as fertilizer) is
 applied to different crops at national, regional and global levels is an
 essential component of fertilizer consumption analysis and demand
 projection. Good information on fertilizer use by crop (FUBC) is rarely
 available because it is difficult to collect and time-consuming to process
 and validate. To fill this gap, a first global FUBC report was published
 in 1992 for the 1990/1991 period, based on an expert survey conducted
 jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, the
 International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) and the International
 Fertilizer Association (IFA). Since then, similar expert surveys have been
 carried out and published every two to four years in the main
 fertilizer-consuming countries. Since 2008 IFA has led these efforts and,
 to our knowledge, remains the only globally available data set on FUBC.
 This dataset includes data (in CSV format) from a survey carried out by
 IFA to represent the 2017–18 period as well as a collation of all historic
 FUBC data.
description: <strong>Latest fertilizer use
 by crop survey data</strong> During 2020-2022 IFA collected and
 standardized FUBC data for the 2017-18 period, primarily through a survey
 of various country correspondents. As of May 2022 this is the most recent
 survey for FUBC data. Country correspondents were selected based on their
 knowledge for estimating fertilizer use, average fertilizer application
 rates and areas of crops for N,
 P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>5</sub> and
 K<sub>2</sub>O for their respective country, and access to any
 locally available farm data. Country correspondents were asked to
 complete the questionnaire with the greatest detail possible, or to
 provide data for the crop breakdown available in their country. The task
 of aligning the data with FAO crop area statistics was particularly
 challenging, and sometimes impossible. Even when correspondents were able
 to mostly follow the provided crop breakdown, crops that are minor in a
 country’s agriculture were often included in a group of crops or other
 crops. For example, for most EU countries, the data provided by
 Fertilizers Europe follow the crop breakdown that is specific to their own
 annual survey. In this crop breakdown, rice is grouped with rye, triticale
 and oats, soybean is grouped with sunflower and linseed, and cotton is not
 identified. <strong>Historic fertilizer use by
 crop survey data</strong> For historic FUBC data the following
 sources had data manually extracted from the original pdf documents into a
 standardized format: ·         
 FUBC report number 1: FAO et al.
 (1992) ·         
 FUBC report number 2: FAO et al.
 (1994) ·         
 FUBC report number 3: FAO et al.
 (1996) ·         
 FUBC report number 4: FAO et al.
 (1999) ·         
 FUBC report number 5: FAO et al.
 (2002) ·         
 FUBC report number 6: Heffer (2009)
 ·         
 FUBC report number 7: Heffer (2013)
 ·         
 FUBC report number 8: Heffer et al.
 (2017) <strong>References</strong> FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1992. <em>Fertilizer use by crop 1</em>. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 82 p. FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1994. <em>Fertilizer use by crop 2</em>. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 64 p. FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1996. <em>Fertilizer use by crop 3</em>. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 74 p. FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1999. <em>Fertilizer use by crop 4</em>. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 78 p. FAO, IFA, IFDC, IPI, PPI. 2002. <em>Fertilizer use by crop 5</em>. Rome, Italy.: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 67 p. Heffer P. 2009. <em>Assessment of Fertilizer Use by Crop at the Global Level 2006/07 – 2007/08</em>. Paris, France: International Fertilizer Association, 11 p. https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop. Heffer P. 2013. <em>Assessment of Fertilizer Use by Crop at the Global Level</em>. Paris, France, 10 p. https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop. Heffer P, Gruere A, Roberts T. 2017. <em>Assessment of fertiliser use by crop at the global level</em>. Paris, France: International Fertilizer Association, Institute IPN, 19 p. https://www.ifastat.org/plant-nutrition.
description: The R project related to analysis of these data are available at:
 https://github.com/ludemannc/FUBC_1_to_9_2022.git  On 18 August 2022 data were updated following reviewer feedback from a submission to the <em>Scientific Data</em> journal (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-022-01592-z). On 22 August 2022 changes were made to crop names in the 'Argentina' worksheet of the 'Country_tables.xlsx' file to rectify a mistake. The error was limited to the excel file and did not affect the csv files, nor the results shown in the associated article published in the Scientific Data journal. On the 4th February 2025 minor changes were made to the FUBC data files based on feedback from Fernando Coello  (see: Coello, F., Decorte, T., Janssens, I., Mortier, S., Sardans, J., Peñuelas, J., & Verdonck, T. (2025). Global Crop-Specific Fertilization Dataset from 1961–2019. <em>Scientific Data, 12</em>(1), 40. doi:10.1038/s41597-024-04215-x) <strong>Versioned changes</strong>: March 2025 minor changes were also made to the Country_tables.xlsx file for Belgium. 
description: # Global data on fertilizer use by crop and by country This
 README_LUDEMANN_FUBC_DATA_2022.txt file was generated on 2025-02-04 by
 Cameron Ludemann GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Titles of Datasets:
 -README_LUDEMANN_FUBC_DATA_2022.txt (describes all datasets in this
 [https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061%2Fdryad.2rbnzs7qh](https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061%2Fdryad.2rbnzs7qh) DRYAD submission) -FUBC_1_9.csv (includes fertilizer use by crop data from the 8 previously published reports (FUBC 1 to 8), as well as the fertilizer use data from the latest (9th) survey (FUBC 9) carried out by the International Fertilizer Association. It is important to note that the FUBC 9 data have been aggregated by crop categories that align to those used in the previous survey (FUBC 8)). -Meta_data_FUBC_1_to_9.csv (includes meta-data associated with the FUBC_1_to_9.csv file.) -FUBC_9_raw_data.csv (includes fertilizer use by crop data from the latest fertilizer use by crop survey. This file includes data where the crop names remained the same as those originally received by survey respondents. This file can be used to access the original crop information (for FUBC 9) that is otherwise lost from the FUBC_1_to_9.csv file due to crop aggregation). -Meta_data_FUBC_9_raw_data.csv (includes meta-data associated with the FUBC_9_raw_data.csv file). -IFA_Regions.csv (includes information shown in Appendix 1 as a csv file for programmatic ease of use). -Meta_data_IFA_Regions.csv (includes meta-data associated with the IFA_Regions.csv file). -Country_tables.xlsx (includes original fertilizer use by crop data from the latest survey with separate excel worksheets for each country. This file includes more information (as ‘Notes’) on how estimates were made for each crop and country). 2. Author Information A. Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Cameron Ludemann Institution: Wageningen University and Research Address: Plant Production Systems, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Email: [cameron.ludemann@wur.nl](mailto:cameron.ludemann@wur.nl)/cameronludemann@gmail.com B. Associate or Co-investigator Contact Information Name: Achim Dobermann Institution: International Fertilizer Association Address: Paris, France. Email: [adobermann@fertilizer.org](mailto:adobermann@fertilizer.org) 3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date) 2020-2022: 4. Geographic location of data collection: World wide 5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: The International Fertilizer Association funded this survey and collation of historic data. SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data: Ludemann, Cameron; Gruere, Armelle; Heffer, Patrick; Dobermann, Achim (2022), Global data on fertilizer use by crop and by country, Dryad, Dataset, [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7qh](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7qh) Ludemann, Cameron; Gruere, Armelle; Heffer, Patrick; Dobermann, Achim (2022), Global data on fertilizer use by crop and by country, Scientific Data 3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: [https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop](https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop) 4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: NA 5. Was data derived from another source? yes A. If yes, list source(s): FUBC report 1: FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1992. Fertilizer use by crop 1. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 82 p. FUBC report 2: FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1994. Fertilizer use by crop 2. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 64 p. FUBC report 3: FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1996. Fertilizer use by crop 3. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 74 p. FUBC report 4: FAO, IFA, IFDC. 1999. Fertilizer use by crop 4. Rome, Italy: Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 78 p. FUBC report 5: FAO, IFA, IFDC, IPI, PPI. 2002. Fertilizer use by crop 5. Rome, Italy.: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 67 p. FUBC report 6: Heffer P. 2009. Assessment of Fertilizer Use by Crop at the Global Level 2006/07 – 2007/08. Paris, France: International Fertilizer Association, 11 p. [https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop](https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop). FUBC report 7: Heffer P. 2013. Assessment of Fertilizer Use by Crop at the Global Level. Paris, France, 10 p. [https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop](https://www.ifastat.org/consumption/fertilizer-use-by-crop). FUBC report 8: Heffer P, Gruere A, Roberts T. 2017. Assessment of fertiliser use by crop at the global level. Paris, France: International Fertilizer Association, Institute IPN, 19 p. [https://www.ifastat.org/plant-nutrition](https://www.ifastat.org/plant-nutrition). 1. Recommended citation for this dataset: Ludemann, Cameron; Gruere, Armelle; Heffer, Patrick; Dobermann, Achim (2022), Global data on fertilizer use by crop and by country, Dryad, Dataset, [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7qh](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.2rbnzs7qh) DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: NA 2. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? Yes A. If yes, name of file(s) that was updated: All files were updated i. Why was the file updated? To align to feedback from peer review in Scientific Data journal ii. When was the file updated? 2022-07-05 ``` The IFA_regions.csv, FUBC_1_to_9.csv and FUBC_9_raw_data.csv files were updated in February 2025 based on minor errors pointed out by Fernando Coello. (See: Coello, F., Decorte, T., Janssens, I., Mortier, S., Sardans, J., Peñuelas, J., & Verdonck, T. (2025). Global Crop-Specific Fertilization Dataset from 1961–2019. Scientific Data, 12(1), 40. doi:10.1038/s41597-024-04215-x) An error in the Country_tables.xlsx file for Belgium was also rectified. ``` 3. Methods for processing the data: NA 4. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: NA 5. Standards and calibration information, if appropriate: NA 6. Environmental/experimental conditions: NA 7. Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: NA 8. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: Cameron Ludemann, Armelle Gruere, Patrick Heffer, and Achim Dobermann. **DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR FILES**: See files with the prefix "Meta_data..." for a description of the parameters, formats, and units of the csv data files. 1. Missing data codes: Missing data are assigned a NA. 2. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: NA.