Potential of goat manure as organic fertilizer in North Sumatera

Abstract

The North Sumatera province has the fifth largest goat population in Indonesia after Central, East, Lampung and West Java. Meanwhile, solid and liquid goat manures have great potential as a source of organic fertilizer. Therefore, this study aims to examine the potential of goat manure as a source of organic fertilizer and its role in improving soil quality, growth and crop production. The data were collected from the Central Bureau of Statistics and the results of previous studies. Furthermore, the potential of goat manure was calculated by multiplying the total goat population in North Sumatra by the goat manure production /head/day and converted to one year. The parameter measured was the total goat population in North Sumatera, goat manure production/head/day, and the covered agricultural land area. The results showed that goat manure only fulfilled 3.69% of the agricultural land area in North Sumatera. In addition, the case study in Deli Serdang District showed that the application of goat manure compost with biourine and balanced inorganic fertilizers increased red chilies’ productivity by 46%. Therefore, it was concluded that the potential of goat manure as organic fertilizer is still very low.