RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Canada adopted the Joint Declaration of agricultural exporters, which includes an increase in food and fertilizer production, reported the head of US diplomacy for Latin America, Brian Nichols.
“Together, we will increase food production for export, fertilizer production and transportation, and agricultural efficiency,” he said in a tweet, specifying that the declaration was adopted during the Summit of the Americas last week in Los Angeles.
According to a White House statement, the five countries affirm that as major agricultural exporters, they can “strengthen global food security”.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) believes that food-importing countries will pay more but receive less in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine.
The Russian military operation in Ukraine, launched on February 24, has had a global impact, aggravating the food crises in many countries due to rising grain and fertilizer prices.
The five countries have decided to take action at a time when nearly one in three people worldwide do not have access to adequate food when supply chain disruptions obstruct trade and unusual weather conditions threaten crops.
The goal is to maximize food supplies to “maintain price stability” and ensure that war sanctions do not affect these products.
The signatories also pledge to provide humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable with donations.
To support greater access to fertilizers, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Canada intend to increase their productivity and optimize their use per ton of food produced.
Russia and Ukraine are fertilizer producers, opening a race for fertilizer production, particularly in the Americas.
Russia is the world’s largest exporter of fertilizers, with sales of US$7.6 billion annually in 2020, according to the Economic Observatory of Competitiveness (OEC), practically paralyzed by the war and international sanctions. Its production covered 12.1% of the global supply.
With information from AFP