use of "the" in front of an uncountable noun

I was reading an article and came across this sentence:

"Until the middle of the century, (no the?) use of chemical fertilizer was limited."

I can tell that the word "use" here is used as an uncountable noun, but shouldn’t there be "the" in front of it as "use of chemical fertilizer" was treated as a single thing here? Or do we put "the" only when the same "use" was mentioned before?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!