World's food security in peril as Russia, China have stranglehold on key item

The world relies for most of the fertilizers used to promote crops on Russia and its ally Belarus, and China.

And that has alarms going off because of the stranglehold that could give those nations over the world's food.

A report that was posted on the Yahoo site explains, "Just as semiconductors have become a lightning rod for geopolitical friction, so the race for fertilizers has alerted the U.S. and its allies to a strategic dependency for an agricultural input that is a key determinant of food security."

The report cites a "cargo" that was trapped in Rotterdam that was so precious the U.N. intervened to get it moved to Mozambique. It was tons of fertilizer destined overland for Malawi.

"About 20% of Malawi’s population is projected to face acute food insecurity during the 'lean season' through March, making the use of fertilizers to grow crops all the more vital. It’s one of 48 nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America identified by the International Monetary Fund as most at risk from the shock to food and fertilizer costs fanned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. One year on, the upheaval caused to world fertilizer markets is seen by the U.N. as a key risk to food availability in 2023," the report explained.

The report explained that it is who controls fertilizers that is moved "to the forefront of the political agenda."

(Photo by Tomasz Filipek on Unsplash)

"The role of fertilizer is as important as the role of seed in the country’s food security," Udai Shanker Awasthi, managing director and chief executive officer of the Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative, said in the report.

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The issue for the $250 billion global fertilizer industry was complicated last year because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ports were disrupted, shipping, banking and insurance are more complicated, meaning ordinary deliveries haven't been reliable.

Andrey Melnichenko, of EuroChem, a billion dollar fertilizer company, blames the sanctions by the European Union, but there also have been those who have been stockpiling the products since prices are spiking.

"The situation is exacerbated by sanctions on potash giant Belarus alongside the decision by China, a major producer of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers, to impose restrictions on exports to protect domestic supply, curbs that analysts don’t see being lifted until the middle of 2023 at the earliest," the report said.

Experts are estimating a 20% drop in food production because of the fertilizer industry issues.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden is delivering $500 million in grants to companies to try to persuade increased production in the United States.

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