Brazil’s National Fertilizer Plan, which has been in place since 2020, gained a greater sense of urgency after Russia, Brazil’s largest fertilizer supplier, began a military offensive against Ukraine and, consequently, shook supply expectations for domestic consumption.
In recent weeks, the news was that the plan was in the final process of evaluation and would be released by the end of March, but recent updates, confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture, indicate that the launch will be March 11.
The plan’s goal is to comprehensively reduce the need to import chemical fertilizers from 85 percent on average to about 60 percent over a 30-year horizon. However, not all measures seek long-term resolutions. According to the document, there are also actions with effectiveness planned for a horizon of 5 and 10 years that, gradually, will contribute to the reduction of external dependence.
According to Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina, in a report published by Infomoney, citing Reuters as a source, the program will seek to minimize bottlenecks in legislation, taxes, and, especially, those related to environmental issues. Ricardo Tortorella, Executive Director of ANDA (National Association for the Dissemination of Fertilizers), said he expects the plan to also deliver strategies that open new channels, markets, and business partners, along with improvements in logistics.
The proposal, which aims to promote competitive advantages in the national fertilizer production chain, is based on the tripod: strengthening stability in the supply of fertilizer, diplomacy of supplies, and transfer of technology for plant nutrition. Among the pillars to promote the intentions of the proposal is the debureaucratization of the ore production chain used in fertilizer manufacturing and tax incentives to the industry. The new legislation also provides for the creation of the Fertilizer Industry Development Program (Profert), with the aim of modernizing factories.
Brazil has a conventional underground potash mine, the only one in the Southern Hemisphere, located in the Taquari-Vassouras Minerochemical Complex, in Rosario do Catete (SE). In addition, the national production has 400,000 mt of potassium chloride per year provided by Mosaic Fertilizantes’ processing plant. The volume, however, falls far short of their annual potassium imports, which in 2021 totaled 12.8 million mt.
There are also expectations about a project raised by President Jair Bolsonaro to exploit potassium deposits, but which finds it difficult to obtain legal and environmental license because it is in a territory demarcated as indigenous property. Throughout the week, the government requested that the project be reviewed judicially, but the Federal Prosecutor’s Office criticized the intentions of exploitation and pointed out that the proposal is unconstitutional and “diminishes the system of protection of human rights.”
Senate President Rodrigo Pacheco, in a report published by Infomoney citing Reuters as a source, said that the problem of fertilizer supply in Brazil needs to be discussed, taking into account ways to enhance existing exploration without the need to use environmental reserves or indigenous lands by using and improving available technologies.