Phosphorus recovery:a need for an integrated approach

Introduction:Phosphorus(P)is an essential element in food production.P consumption is increasing over the years due to increasing population and increasing demand for agricultural yields.Managing the agricultural P through the understanding of bioav ailability,transport,and runoff will maximize the soil productivity and minimize the environmental effects.Efficient management in agriculture,governance,and lack of integrated international govern-ance need to be addressed to overcome the P scarcity issue.Results and Discussions:This article is focusing one such efficient management of P resource addressing the major portion of phosphorus which is unnoticed in agricultural residues,manures,and other sources.Increasing cost of phosphate fertilizer,a scarcity of high-quality phosphate rock(PR),and increasing surface water pollution are driving a need to accelerate the recovery and reuse of phosphorus(P)from various waste sectors.Options to recover P occur all along the open P cycle from mining to households to oceans.However,P recovery as a regional and global strategy toward P sustainability and future food,bio energy,and water security are in its infancy because of a number of technological,socioeconomic,and institutional constraints.Resolving these constraints requires concerted colla boration between relevant stakeholders and an integrated approach combining successful business models with socioeconomic and institutional changes.