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Can fertilisers go green?

Synthetic fertilisers such as ammonia are great for crops, but terrible for the climate. Graihagh Jackson meets the businesses trying to make better versions.

Ammonia has revolutionised the way we produce our food, helping us to grow much, much more... But it鈥檚 also helping to grow global greenhouse gas emissions too.

Synthetic fertilisers are actually responsible for around 5% of the planet-warming gases going into the air - that鈥檚 more than deforestation.

In this episode, Graihagh Jackson examines this challenge that modern agriculture poses to the climate, and finds out whether it鈥檚 possible to cut emissions from fertiliser use without cutting food production at the same time. She鈥檒l also be joined by local reporters in Kenya to hear about innovative projects aiming to tackle this problem and turn farming green.

Do you have a climate question you鈥檇 like answered? E-mail us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com

Presenter: Graihagh Jackson
Reporters in Kenya: Michael Kaloki and James Gitaka
Producer: Ben Cooper
Researcher: Octavia Woodward
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound engineer: Tom Brignell
Editors: Simon Watts and Sophie Eastaugh

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26 minutes

Last on

Wed 17 Apr 2024 19:06GMT

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