MANAGING director of fertiliser producer Newport-Fersan Dennis Valdez has expressed concern that farmers are being forced to cut back on production because of the heightening cost of fertiliser, which could impact food supply in Jamaica if the Russia-Ukraine war forces countries to expand or continue to ban food exports in favour of hoarding it to feed their population.

“We will be seeing a reduction in the production here, because a farmer who could afford to buy four bags of fertiliser [two years ago] is buying two or maybe one today,” Valdez told a group of manufacturers attending a Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association forum last week.

Fertiliser prices have been increasing as the price of raw materials increase. The prices were increasing before the war, but the war has made things worse, especially with sanctions impacting Russia, which is one the world’s biggest producer and exporter of fertiliser and raw materials to blend fertiliser.

“I don’t want to scare you, but if you compare where we are now to where we were before COVID and where we are today, in terms of raw materials cost, it’s [up] over 250 per cent and counting. Then we have the Russia-Ukraine war and it is very significant for our industry because, just to give you an example, Russia is the second largest producer of urea, ammonia, potassium and the first in terms of phosphorous, the main raw materials we use to blend fertilisers,” Valdez outlined.

He said though his company has employed various methods to keep the prices down, a bag of fertiliser has more than doubled in price from between $4,000 and $5,000 two years ago to $12,000 to $13,000 today. Valdez said such a situation facing Jamaican farmers, who largely operate on small acreages growing multiple crops, presents challenges.

“How can they afford to buy a bag of fertiliser when they have only one acre of land and fertiliser represents about 43 per cent of the total cost of production?” he questioned.

“This is a serious matter for food production in Jamaica. Obviously it’s not just fertiliser; it’s chemicals, it’s everything.”

Valdez said seeing the situation, Newport-Fersan decided to introduce smaller more affordable bags of fertiliser.

“We have a 50-kg bag which is 110 pounds, but we decided to go smaller, so we did a 50-pound and a 25-pound bag.”

He said the innovation has been helping farmers to be better able to purchase fertiliser for their crops, but pointed out that they are also applying less of the product to crops, which will hurt both production and productivity.

“In one year Jamaica is using 15.1 per cent less fertiliser, overall. In a country that imports much of what we consume, this is not good,” he said, an indication that he worries that it could impact attempts to boost food production to reduce reliance on imports.