Mnthambala, FrankTilley, ElizabethTyrrel, Sean F.Sakrabani, Ruben2021-07-012021-07-012021-06-21Mnthambala F, Tilley E, Tyrrel S, Sakrabani R. (2021) Phosphorus flow analysis for Malawi: identifying potential sources of renewable phosphorus recovery. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Volume 173, October 2021, Article number 1057440921-3449https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105744http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/16836Population growth and dietary needs changes have exerted pressure on phosphorus (P) reserves, and the future availability of P fertilisers is uncertain. Most Malawian soils have low P and farmers apply P fertilisers to harvest enough food. Scarcity of chemical P fertilisers and rising prices will affect Malawi's food security. To avert the impact of P future uncertainty a P flow analysis (PFA) was conducted to characterise and quantify sources, flows, and sinks of P to determine options for waste minimisation, recovery, and chemical fertiliser use reduction for Malawi. The PFA results highlighted that; there are 35000 Mg of recyclable organic P annually, which is over two times Malawi's annual P fertiliser demand (14000 Mg). Currently, only 16% of the organic P is recycled to agriculture. Chemical P fertiliser represents 66 % of the P fertiliser used for crop production. Manure is the most recycled organic P source (38 % recycled), followed by organic solid waste (6%), and crop residues (5%). Annually, 9000 Mg of P is transferred to faecal matter, but none is recycled. Overall, Malawian soils have a negative P balance of -4000 Mg. Malawi can reduce its dependence on imported chemical P if recycling of organic P source is adopted. However, regulations should be put in place to control the quality of organic fertilisersenAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Substance flow analysis software (STAN)Material flow analysis (MFA)MalawiPhosphorusArticle