KIAMBU COUNTY, Kenya (AP) – Monica Kariuk is ready to give up farming. What forced him to leave Nairobi on 10 hectares of land was not bad weather, pests or carp – a traditional curse in agriculture – but fertilizer: it was too expensive.
While Ukrainian battlefields are thousands of miles away, Kariuk and his cabbage, corn and spinach farms were not direct victims of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression. The war pushed up the price of natural gas, the main component of fertilizers, and led to more severe sanctions against Russia, the main exporter of fertilizers.
Kariuk spent 20,000 Kenyan shillings, or about $ 175, to fatten the entire farm. Now he has to spend five times more. According to him, the continuation of earthworks will bring nothing but losses.
“I will not continue farming. “I’m leaving agriculture to try others,” he said.
Higher fertilizer prices are making prices more expensive and making the world’s food supplies lower as farmers conserve nutrients for their crops and get lower yields. Although the waves are felt The reduction in food supplies of food buyers in rich countries will be more detrimental to families in poor countries. Worse times are almost impossible to come: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said last week that the world food price index had reached its highest level since 1990 in March.
The shortage of fertilizers threatens to further limit the world’s food supply, which is already limited by significant delays in grain shipments from Ukraine and Russia. The loss of available stocks of wheat, barley and other grains raises the prospect of food shortages and political instability In countries in the Middle East, Africa and some parts of Asia, where millions- millions of people rely on subsidized bread and cheap noodles.
“Food prices will go up because farmers have to earn money. What will happen to consumers? ”Said Uche Anianwu, an agricultural expert at the University of Nigeria.
Aid group Action Aid warns that families in the Horn of Africa have been pushed to the “edge of survival”.
The United Nations says Russia is the largest exporter of nitrogen fertilizers in the world and the second largest phosphorus and potash fertilizer in the world. Its ally, Belarus, which also opposes Western sanctions, is another major fertilizer producer.
Many developing countries – including Mongolia, Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal, Mexico and Guatemala – rely on Russia for at least a fifth of their imports.
Conflict also broke out. The very high price of natural gas, Used in the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizers. The result: Energy prices in Europe are so high that some fertilizer companies are “closing their businesses and closing factories,” said David Labord, a researcher at the Institute for International Food Policy Research.
For corn and cabbage farmer Jackson Coet, 55, of Eldoretti, western Kenya, the rivalry in Ukraine was distant and shocking until he decided whether to extend the planting season. The price of fertilizer is double compared to last year.
Coet said he decided to continue planting, but only about half the area in recent years. However, he doubts that he can earn on such expensive fertilizer.
Dimitris Phyllis, a Greek farmer who grows olives, oranges and lemons, said: “You have to look for ammonia nitrate and the cost of fertilizing a 10-hectare (25-hectare) olive grove doubles to 560 euros ( $ 310). . When buying at a farmer’s market in Athens, he said most farmers will miss the olive and orange groves.
“A lot of people don’t use fertilizers, and it reduces the quality of production and the quality of production itself, and gradually, at some point, they can’t afford their land, because they can’t. “We,” Phyllis said.
In China, the price of potassium-rich salt used as fertilizer rose by 86% in the past year. The price of nitrogen fertilizer increased by 39%, while the price of phosphorus fertilizer increased by 10%.
In the city of Taiwan in eastern China, the manager of a 35-family cooperative that produces wheat and corn said fertilizer prices have risen 40% since the beginning of the year.
“We hardly make any money,” said the manager, who will only be called by his last name, Zhao.
Terry Farms, which grows crops on 2,100 acres, primarily in Ventura, California, has doubled the price of some fertilizer formulations; Others rose 20%. Replacing fertilizers is dangerous, Vice President William Terry said, because cheaper versions may not provide “the crop what it needs as a food source.”
As the growing season approaches in Maine, potato growers are having difficulty with the 70% to 100% increase in fertilizer prices since last year, depending on the mix.
“I think it’s going to be a pretty expensive crop, whatever you put in the ground, starting with fertilizer, fuel, labor, electricity and everything in between,” said Donald Flannery, chief executive of the Maine Potato Council.
In the Brazilian city of Paran ას, in the state of Paran ას, a farmer named Edimilson Rickley showed up a warehouse usually full of fertilizer parks, but enough for a few more weeks. He feared that the war in Ukraine would show no signs of ending, he had to leave the manure when he planted wheat, barley and oats next month.
“The question is: where will Brazil go to buy more fertilizer?” he says. “We need to look for other markets”.
Hope other countries help fill the gaps. Nigeria, for example, opened the largest fertilizer plant in Africa last month, and a $ 2.5 billion plant has already shipped fertilizer to the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.
Meanwhile, India is seeking more fertilizer imports from Israel, Oman, Canada and Saudi Arabia to make up for missing shipments from Russia and Belarus.
“If the supply shortage worsens, we will yield less,” said Kishur Rungta, spokesman for the Indian Non-Commercial Fertilizer Association. “So we need to look for options to get more fertilizer in the country.”
Farms support farmers, especially in Africa, where poverty often limits access to the vital values of a farm. In Kenya, Apollo Agriculture helps farmers get fertilizers and get funding.
“Some farmers go beyond the planting season and others go to other businesses, such as buying goats, to do so,” said Benjamin Njenga, co-founder of the company. “So these support services have come a long way.”
Governments are also helping. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced last month that it would release $ 250 million in grants to support fertilizer production in the United States. The Swiss government has released part of their nitrogen fertilizer stock.
However, there is no easy answer to the double longing for rising fertilizer prices and limited supply. Over the next 12-18 months, food researcher Laborde said it would be “difficult”.
Before the war, the market was “super, super crowded,” said Katie Matters of the Fertilizer Institute’s trade team.
“Unfortunately, in many cases, growers are simply happy to receive fertilizer,” he said.
Reported by Asadu from Lagos, Nigeria and Weissman from Washington. Contributors to this story: Tatiana Palastra in S პ o Paulo, Brazil; Deborah Alvarez of Brazil, Brazil; Sheikh Saalik of New Delhi; Lefter Pythagoras of Athens; Jamie Keatin of Geneva; Joe McDonald and Yu Bing in Beijing; Lisa Ratke of Marshfield, Vermont; Dave Kolpack of Fargo, North Dakota; Katia Martinez of Panama; Christoph Noelting of Frankfurt; Fabiola Sanchez of Mexico City; Veselin Toshkov of Sofia, Bulgaria; Tariq al-Baraqa of Rabat, Morocco; Tassanee Vejpongsa and Elaine Kurtenbach in Bangkok; Some Ben Zion in Jerusalem; Eddie Lederer of the UN; And Aia Batravi in Dubai.
Source: Huffpost
