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Rabat – To avert a looming food security crisis likely to hit Africa, The African Development Bank (AfDB) is in talks with international partners including Morocco’s fertilizers giant OCP Group to secure emergency fertilizers.
In a meeting in mid-May, the AfDB said that Morocco’s OCP could supply 200,000 tons of phosphate and blended fertilizers, while Nigeria could supply 300,000 tons of urea, according to a report from development-oriented news outlet Devdiscourse.
The deal is part of the AfDB’s strategy to provide half a million tons of fertilizers to West Africa by August, in order to fend off an impending food crisis, the source indicates.
To secure the said volume of fertilizers, the AfDB is mobilizing $1.5 billion to mitigate disruptions to the global commodities market and its effect on rising fertilizers prices.
Global food systems have become strained due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and severe supply chain disruptions following the peak of the COVID-19 crisis.
Most experts agree that these disruptions are set to lead to severe hunger, malnutrition, and death in low-income countries, particularly in Africa. NGO World Relief describes the current crisis as the worst since 1945, and warns that “millions could die in the coming months.”
Skyrocketing fertilizers prices are threatening to drastically reduce agricultural input on the continent, as it braces for a two million ton gap in supply, the AfDB report laments.
Converging reports indicate that the African bank is conducting a series of meetings with leading fertilizers producers on the continent and beyond, to secure the volume needed.
“We are talking to partners and farmers as well. Fertilizer needs are two-fold at this time, half of the fertilizer in May and June for some planting seasons, depending on location across the continent,” the bank told Reuters.
“The second half, called a top dressing, is needed a month or two months later,” the bank added in a statement.
The Ukraine war and the ensuing sanction on Russia, have sent a compound shock across already volatile global commodity markets, causing energy and fertilizer prices to reach historical levels.
Commenting on the crisis, the UN warned that the impact of the Ukraine war is causing the worst global economic crisis since World War II. at a time when the global economy is straining to recover from the pandemic-induced economic crisis.
