IICA promotes medium- and long-term strategies for Latin American and Caribbean countries to address the fertilizer crisis that is threatening food security

Latin American and Caribbean countries must work together to develop medium- and long-term strategies to reduce their strong dependence on the import of chemical fertilizers, agreed experts convened by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). This topic was discussed during a workshop held at IICA Headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the purpose of the activity was to analyze the impact of the global fertilizer crisis on consumers and farmers throughout the Americas, as well as its cost for governments. A research project commissioned by the hemispheric agricultural development agency was also presented during the workshop. The project involved the development of a simple methodology that could be immediately applied by countries in the region to analyze the potential effects of alternative or complementary measures to mitigate current conditions with respect to fertilizer import prices and their repercussions for the main agrifood stakeholders.