GUANO FERTILISER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1938, Page 3

GUANO FERTILISER

SOME INTERESTING FEATURES. Fertiliser is scarcely a subject to which one would turn in the hope of finding something of an unusual nature, yet guano, the natural fertiliser of Peru, is a name to conjure up a world of interest. The word itself is Spanish, deriving from the Peruvian “huanu,” which means the deposit of birds. Though once a word which spelled riches, owing to their prodical exploitation, the supplies of guano came dangerously near to exhaustion, and today the trade is but a fraction of what it once was. The peculiar feature of guano is its content of both nitrogenous and phosphoric ingredients in forms very readily assimilated by plants. Moreover, the occurrence of these ingredients in different combinations gives it a special value, as they cannot be exactly imitated in artificial manures. In so-called guano found elsewhere, owing to its exposure to rain, the nitrogen content has been given off in the form of ammonia, and the insoluble phosphates remain to form a far less valuable phosphatic guano.

The use of guano was known to the ancient Peruvians. They found their western lands a vast desert, except for a few valleys rendered fertile by an occasional stream. Nevertheless, a remarkable civilisation grew up, made possible by the development of a marvellous system of agricultural engineering whereby the precipitous sides of the Andes were cultivated in seemingly endless irrigated terraces. Together with this went the use of guano from the neighbouring islands, for although it must have been used for centuries, the supplies, in marked contrast to later civilised ways, were tapped so judiciously that they were never permitted to become depleted.

With the arrival of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century and the destruction of the Inca Empire, agriculture declined, and guano became forgotten, until, in 1804, von Humboldt, the discoverer of the current which bears his name, took samples of it to Europe. Yet, until 1840, it remained virtually untouched.

In that year, however, it was declared a Government monopoly, and the era of exploitation began. After using it with considerable advantage on its canefields, Peru began to export it in 1845, both Europe and the United States of America becoming keen customers. Between 1851 and 1872 it has been estimated that more than 10,000,000 tons were removed from one small group of islands alone, representing a revenue of from £4,000,000 to £6,000,000 annually. A single island is said to have been lowered more than 100 ft by the removal of its thick crown of guano. Needless to say, neither the exhaustion nor the conservation of the deposits or of the birds was thought of. While fortunes were being so easily made, the Peruvian Government was undertaking and carrying out great plans for public improvements, and the guano industry was soon mortgaged heavily to defray the cost; for as the State revenue grew, so did expenditure by the lavish and completely corrupt Administration, The country’s foreign debt rose to over £35,000,000, guano profits were all absorbed, and the national credit ruined. Finally, to complete the disaster, came war with Chile and Bolivia from 1879 to/1884, one of the causes of which was the guano Colconda, and as a result of it Peru, as part of the penalty of defeat, was shorn of a great deal of its sadly-depleted guano supplies. Yet this loss proved a blessing in disguise, for, deprived of their easilywon revenues, Peruvians were at last obliged to turn to work, and a policy of real development was for the first time gradually inaugurated. Thus, although the guanayes had always found that the numerous gulls, turkey vultures, and condors were their enemies, by far the greatest proved to be man, whom they had benefited so greatly. Now, however, the rehabilitation of the industry is well under way, and the National Government Administration has abolished the old contract system of extraction with its cut-throat competition and waste, and has set about the repopulation of the islands. The whole subject was studied scientifically following which laws were passed to protect the birds during the breeding season, to make certain islands perpetual sanctuaries, and to permit others to be worked only by a system of rotation.

Small vessels still ply from island to island, while men arrrfed with picks and shovels continue to load them with odiferous cargoes; but the.birds, which were fast being driven away by the wholesale disturbance of their rookeries, have returned, and fresh deposits are again being formed. Production, which fell to low levels, rose from 25,000 to 90,000 tons within 10 years, and today the average yield, despite the strictly-enforced restrictions, is about 130,000 tons annually. Practically the whole of this is used locally. Though it was rigorous, Peru has apparently learnt its lesson.