Seminar Recording | 06 July 2022 | 14:00 CEST

Fertilizers are used in agricultural production to improve plant nutrition and enhance plant health and productivity, but since the beginning of 2022 fertilizers prices recorded an additional 30 percent increase because of several factors, including surging input costs, energy price increases, supply disruptions caused by economic sanctions, and export restrictions.

Opening the FAO Plant Production and Protection Seminar on Sound fertilization for food security in the context of the current crisis, FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol stated that “sound fertilization is one of the most effective and efficient approaches for ensuring food security and nutrition” and that the “lack of fertilizers or the reduction in its application rate could lead to a decline in food production”.

In light of this, improving fertilizer use efficiency and promoting alternatives to chemical fertilizers are essential to overcome the current soaring prices and shortages, while enhancing food security, facing climate change, and preserving biodiversity and natural resources. In particular, biofertilizers are likely to be an important component of a sustainable solution to the current fertilizers crisis.

In response to the need to increase food security and the safe use of fertilizers, FAO along with partners have developed the International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers to enhance food security and the efficient and sustainable use of fertilizers, thereby contributing to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the Director of FAO’s Plant Production and Protection Division, Jingyuan Xia, the seminar “presented a technical vision for optimizing the utilization of fertilizers and minimizing their losses, while introducing alternatives that can contribute to bridging the gap between fertilizer availability and accessibility in the context of the current crisis.”

The FAO Plant Production and Protection Seminar Series was launched in 2021 to raise awareness of the contribution of plant production and protection to the SDGs at global, regional, and national levels; to share information and knowledge on the strategic direction and technical development in sustainable plant production and protection, and to promote cross-cutting dialogue and collaboration in plant production and protection worldwide.

The fourth seminar of this series provided FAO Members, stakeholders, and policymakers with information to mitigate the effects of increasing fertilizer input prices while responding to market demands, and also served as a preparatory session for the first-ever FAO Global Conference on Sustainable Plant Production (GPC) with the theme “Innovation, Efficiency, and Resilience”, planned for 2-4 November 2022.