Fertilizer should be exempted from sanctions imposed on Russia in order to support global food production and control food inflation, Brazil Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina said on March 10, according to a Bloomberg report. The minister will present the matter for discussion at a meeting of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on March 16.
Unilateral sanctions on Russian fertilizer exports represent a threat to food security as they raise production costs and food prices as a consequence, Cristina said in an emailed statement.
The proposal has the support of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay – nations that form a regional council on agriculture and were at a meeting with Cristina on March 10. She also met with representatives from Arab nations seeking to boost fertilizer supplies to Brazil, the ministry said separately. Arab nations account for 26 percent of Brazil’s fertilizer imports
Brazil’s government has also been working to improve logistics for fertilizer imports in the short term, she said.