(Part 2)
On the other hand , China´s social capital plays a pivotal role in seed production , chemical fertilizers and agricultural pesticides that economic miracle that made China the world´s second-largest economy . In industrial farms and villages of China , about 600 million tons of food are produced every year . China is the largest producer and consumer of chemical fertilizers in the world of capitalism, and from the production of 50 kg per hectare in 1974 reached 400 kg per hectare in 2019 . The United States came in second place at about 350 kg in 1970 to 250 kg per hectare in 2019 , but that doesn´t mean reducing the capital of this vital commodity in America’s advanced industrial agriculture rather it means that chemical fertilizer has been , such capital goods , that imports at a much lower price from China and Pakistan . The statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture in Iran (Jihad) show that last year , about 2 million and 350 thousand tons of nitrogen fertilizer , 112,000 tons of phosphate fertilizers and 82,000 tons of potash fertilizers have been sold by manufactures and importers to agro-industrial companies . Nevertheless , a large amount of these types of capital goods are imported that in here the role of Chinese exports is very prominent . Statistics show the development of China´s nitrogen , phosphate and potash fertilizer production from 1970 to 2020 which year by year its production and consumption of domestic capital has increased . In 2020 , a total of about 54 million tons of nitrogen , phosphate and potash fertilizers were produced in China , in 2012 , the production of nitrogen fertilizer alone was about 98 million tons . Since then , production has dropped significantly to 36 million tons by 2019 and most of the chemical fertilizers produced were for domestic consumption . The areas with the highest consumption of chemical fertilizers in China are Henan and Shandong , Anhui and Hebei .
The World Food Organization (WFO) , a subsidiary of the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , describes in its report China´s fertilizer industry as playing an important role in providing the world with high-quality chemical fertilizers . This is what the capitalist management institution explains in this field : “ Fertilizer is a vital component for the agricultural sector of any economy and as population grows , the´s an urgent need for a stable and reliable food source . Countries around the world are looking to China , not only for growing to produce a large portion of their food , but also to help meet their agricultural needs ” . This organization goes on to write that China is currently the largest consumer and exporter of all three macronutrient fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) in the world . The China´s capital in the realm of industrial agriculture consumes an average of 50 million tons per year of chemical fertilizer consumption . Fertilizer producers in China in 2016 produced about 74 million tons and exported a third of those mixed chemical fertilizers . The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) writes in its report on the global fertilizer industry that the global nutrient capacity reached 296 million tons in 2017 . Thus , China´s capital in industrial agriculture´s realm has produced an average of 25% of global chemical fertilizer consumption in recent years . Now , let us briefly consider the necessity of consuming such commodities as a raw material . Agricultural products , basic food goods and organic primary compounds (Oil, Gas and Petrochemical base materials) , metals and some types of minerals are among the raw materials . As capital accumulation increases , the constituent part of fixed capital , namely machinery and tools , increases and consequently , the need to produce livestock and agricultural raw materials increases just as much . With the development of capitalist mechanized agriculture, the methods were used that temporarily increased labour productivity . But what it was once considered an important advance for increasing the fertility of the land , today we are facing the depletion of soil from vital reserves. (quoted from Marx , capital.vol I) A reality of what we´re witnessing in energy resources , it only deserves the title of land plunder by capital . Four factors , namely seasonal changes , soil quality and contents , plant pests and seed type are effective factors in determining the annual crop . For this system one thing is a vital and natural condition , access to maximum surplus value, and this requires the development of accumulation along with the unbridled increase in surplus labour of the working masses to the detriment of necessary labour (wages). In the process of mechanization of planting , holding and harvesting , warehousing and transportation certainly play a very decisive role and have a significant impact on raising profits . Capital, in this passage such as all other realms of investing , and by order of its nature takes the path of extreme production and achieving a golden rate of profit is everything and at the same time it does see the destruction of human beings and impose endless misery in their life in this regard as the simplest and most unsparing effects . The growing project of plowing technique created conditions in which the soil became very fine at a very limited depth due to repeated plowing to be exposed to the air with its cavities . In general , especially its upper surfaces are oxidized by the action of oxygen and its absorption of elements and paralyzes by plant roots is easier . Implementing this in the context of the real needs of human life is not a problem but when it´s done by capital and when it becomes like an effective weapon of extreme accumulation of capital and gaining galactic profits, and it results in a fundamentally opposite . Repetition of this process reduces soil yield and depletes the land of its vital resources , and besides that , because agricultural lands have been cultivated for a hundred and sometimes thousands of years with the depletion of the necessary materials , what is absorbed by the roots of the plants also undergoes quantitative and qualitative changes . If working masses were suffering from malnutrition in a hundred years ago by increasing the intensity of work (increase energy consumption per unit time) and reduction of wage and constantly were threatened and attacked by diseases , today , they´re not only enduring a dramatic increase of work intensity as a result of massive mechanization , not only they´re witnessing a steady decline in real wages and have to accept longer daily work and not only endure day by day their slaughtered minimum livelihood and health social welfare , beyond all these they´re more at risk of malnutrition and morality due to the catastrophic depletion of food and agricultural and livestock products . It will certainly be asked that what does this have to do with the increasing use of chemical fertilizers in capitalist industrial agriculture ? The answer is to look at issues such as declining agricultural soil content and its impact on food , its relation with the use of chemical fertilizers , spraying of agricultural products and impact of acid rains , replacement of destructive heavy metals with mineral materials and production and consumption of food supplements (vitamins , minerals and all kinds of tablets of pure chemical substances) and dietary supplements (enriching substances) it does reveal this secret . Production of saline fertilizers (chemicals that are generally phosphate and nitrate) has risen sharply since 1950 . This fertilizer was discovered in 1840 by a German chemist ( his theory was that plant growth could be achieved without soil and only by adding some minerals to the water ) . If capitalism would be compensating for all the contents of the soil , it must add dozens of essential substances no only to the soil , rather , and more importantly , between 5 and 10 years to give these materials the opportunity to be absorbed by the complex system of soil humus , so that these materials together provide suitable conditions for plant nutrition . No capital or any capitalist can ever bear such heavy cost , therefore , chemical fertilizer which mostly composed of two substances ,phosphorus and nitrogen has undertaken this task and this was especially important because it directly increased the productivity of the labour by adding chemical fertilizers to infinite limits . Complications of food deficiencies are as follows . A large proportion of people (74%) are deficient in vitamin A .
Essential minerals such as Zinc (Zn) , Copper (Cu) , Iron (Fe) , and Selenium (Se) vary slightly despite supplementation and enrichment and some people suffer from a lack of these significant substances . Magnesium (Mg) and Calcium (Ca) despite supplements and additives, more than 50% of people suffer from the deficiency . Vitamins required by the body such as vitamin C (25%) , A (34%) , E (60%) and vitamin D (70%) do not be reached by a large population of working families in the world . The masses suffer from deficiency of these substances in such a way that the body is fragile against diseases , work-related losses , burnout and immunity against diseases and epidemics , pandemics (such as COVID-19) in a normal state of healthy body that´s fragile and soon due to the slightest attack it surrenders and suffers from complications . The above reports of the high level of production and consumption of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in China mean exactly the same fate for the working masses of this country that other capitalist countries bring to their working masses . A report, based on systematic study and analysis of research documents , indicates the “food safety problem caused by environmental pollution in China , including the effect of toxin contamination on food safety and the Chinese government’s policy response since 1970 . The results show that to varying degrees , the food safety of China is very high under the influence of chemical fertilizers and pesticide residues of large herbicides , heavy metal contamination of arable land (especially cadmium) and water pollution . ”
this report , published on Nov. 11 , 2021 , continues that the use of chemical inputs , severe pollution of farmland , sewage irrigation and air pollution are all sources of pollution which affect food safety . Excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides , the main source of persistent organic pollutants and endocrine disorders , disrupts plant metabolism and contaminates crops . Excess chemicals also enter the soil and climate and due to industrialization and urbanization , it intensifies environmental pollution . After contact with contaminated soil and water plants absorb toxic chemicals that are transported to the seeds and edible parts and eventually enter the human body through the food chain .
Ibrahim Payendeh
January 2022
