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Book of Abstracts First Legume Society Conference 2013: A Legume Odyssey Novi Sad, Serbia, 9-11 May 2013
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The cost-effectiveness of production of leguminous plants in view of sustainable
development
Dorota Czerwińska-Kayzer, Joanna Florek
Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland
The aim of the article is to present suggested cost accounting concerning the biological
advantages of cultivation of leguminous plants for subsequent plants. Contemporary agriculture
pursues maximisation of harvest in order to generate the highest possible income, frequently
forgetting about the negative consequences of this approach. Sustainable development combines
actions in three areas (i.e. environment, economy and society) to reduce the negative influence on
natural environment. Considering the cultivation of leguminous plants from the standard gross
margin accounting, between 2006 and 2010 the production of yellow lupine and narrow-leafed
lupine in Poland was not cost-effective. The loss from yellow lupine ranged from 199.46 euros in
2009 to 359.96 in 2006. The main causes were: low and unstable yield, absence of market and in
consequence, a low price (or even no price). In cost accounting when we take into consideration
the biological advantages resulting from the lower content of nitrogen in the cultivation of
subsequent plants, the cost-effectiveness of the cultivation improves. As results from the research
by Szukała (2012), in 2012 yellow lupine bound 95.9 kg N/ha from the air. Of the total amount
of nitrogen bound in post-harvest residue about 43.4kg N/ha was left, which in the equivalent of
127.6 kg of ammonium nitrate. This means that the costs of fertilisation in the cultivation of
subsequent plants can be reduced by 115.57 euros or the profitability of low effective lupine
cultivation can be improved.
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