Product Farm
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China, which exported about 5.3 million tonnes of phosphate fertilizer in 2025, has shipped almost none in 2026. With sulfur scarce and phosphate prices high, import-dependent markets face a tight season, and every kilo of phosphorus needs to work harder. At Van Polder, we believe a tight phosphate market is a reason to look again […]
If you are starting a banana farm, Panama disease (Fusarium wilt of banana) is the risk to plan for. How to prevent Panama disease in bananas comes down to keeping the fungus out, because no fertilizer prevents or cures it and once it is in the soil it stays for decades (Pegg et al., 2019; […]
A government project in Bangladesh’s Rajshahi Division has brought solar-powered pumps, including solar drip systems for orchards, to drought-prone land where groundwater has been falling for decades. The Prime Minister wants all diesel irrigation pumps converted to solar within five years. For growers who move to drip, the next step is to feed the crop […]
Calcium deficiency in banana shows first on the youngest leaves, as thickened veins and a saw-tooth pattern of yellow and dead tissue along the leaf margin, and in severe cases as “spike leaf”, new leaves with little or no blade, and poor-quality fruit (Turner, 1987; Martin-Prével, 1980). On most plantation soils it is not a […]
A calcium fertilizer supplies the calcium that holds plant cell walls and membranes together, but whether it reaches the fruit depends as much on water flow as on the fertilizer you choose. Calcium travels with water to the leaves and barely moves out of them again, so fruit and young leaves can run short even […]
An unusually wet winter brought coffee flowering in Minas Gerais forward by about a month, in several separate waves. With October forecast to be hotter than normal and rain patchy, the question for 2027 is now how many of those flowers turn into fruit. At Van Polder, we believe a strong flowering is only the […]