Providing Balanced Crop Nutrition to a Growing World

6/4/2014

International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA), chaired by Esin Mete, held its Annual Conference for the 82nd time this year in Sydney, Australia on 26-28 May. At this important conference attended by 540 member organizations around the world various projects and polices of IFA were discussed President of IFA Esin Mete made a speech at the opening session.
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Opening session – Agenda

Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues from the Industry and Esteemed Guests,

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to Sydney for the 82nd IFA Annual Conference; which constitutes a unique forum for our fertilizer community, where the entire fertilizer value chain meets to discuss the most important issues pertaining to our industry.

Upon becoming IFA President last year, I informed the membership that my priorities would be to work on product stewardship, nutrient stewardship and farmer outreach. I am, thus, delighted to be opening the first session of our annual conference with an panel discussion, which Charlotte will lead with international experts, on the topic of: Smart Growth: Promoting Effective and Efficient Fertilizer Use, to discuss on nutrient stewardship and nutrient use efficiency. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our guests for joining us here in Sydney.  Following the panel, I will have the honor to present to you this year’s winner of IFA’s Norman Borlaug award for excellence in knowledge transfer.

I would like to focus my presentation to you today on the need to provide the world with proper and balanced nutrition.
In this respect, I think that as an industry we should pay greater attention to:
•          The need to disseminate information about balanced nutrition globally to address both issues of under- and over-use, as well as imbalanced use
•          The need to develop markets in regions where access remains an issue
•          The need to teach farmers site-specific and crop-specific nutrient recommendations to increase nutrient performance globally
•          And finally, the need to innovate
I will then share with you the proactive steps taken by IFA to address nutrient stewardship strategically through the Association’s committee works.

Painting the picture
If we take a world view of Nitrogen use, what is striking is the diversity of the issue. This map published in Nature illustrates nitrogen imbalances; it shows thatsome regions of the world use regrettably too little nitrogen (in red on the map), whereas others have an excess nitrogen input (in green). Similar imbalances also exist for phosphorus and potassium.
We may find some faults with how such a map was drawn up, and I believe that we need to come up with our own, perhaps more accurate and detailed maps.  But it is important to show how the world is looking at this issue and to acknowledge and address the significant imbalances in global fertilizer use.
In regions of underuse, the industry has an important role to play in improving supply and promoting balanced fertilization to bridge the yield gap. The ‘yield gap’ represents the difference between farmers’ actual and attainable yields, and fertilizers play a vital role in closing this gap.
In regions of excess or imbalanced use, the industry should also promote balanced fertilization and nutrient stewardship.

For those who simply argue for reducing fertilizer rates, we need to explain the importance of balanced fertilizationthat seeks to provide the right source, at the right rate, but also at the right time and place.
We have known for a long time that  multi-nutrient crop  nutritionto achieve helps to increase Nitrogen use efficiency. This graph, for example, shows how simply applyingsulphurgreatly increases the nitrogen use efficiency of winter wheat.
Underdeveloped markets
As industry leaders, we must recognize the tremendous market opportunity presented by areas of the world with the largest yield gap. This graph shows well the regions where the yield gap is more severe: Africa, Latin America and West Asia. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the average maize yield is only one fifth of the attainable yield.
Our business is to invest in increasing crop output, but we cannot continue to overinvest in areas that are close to their yield potential. Our market growth opportunities are in the regions where the yield gap is more significant.
Africa
While the global average for fertilizer use is about 100 kg/ ha and India uses about 140 kg/ha, in most of Sub-Saharan Africa fertilizer application rates are below 10 kilograms of nutrients per hectare. I would like to pause on Africa
Africa is not only the area with the most evident nutrient deficiencies but also the place where our market has the greatest potential to grow.  I believe that we cannot talk about Africa without remembering the size of the continent and the demographic and economic changes changes that are underdoing in many Africa countries. And today, the continent still accounts for only 3% of world fertilizer consumption. With 1 person out of 4 projected to live in Africa by 2050, regional fertilizer demand has an enormous potential to increase.
The African Development Bank just released a report where it estimates that “Africa has the potential to increase the value of its annual agricultural output from USD 280 billion in 2010 to about USD 500 billion by 2020 and to USD 880 billion by 2030.”
As Kofi Annan just stated in a new report:
“Unleashing Africa’s green and blue revolutions may seem like an uphill battle, but several countries have begun the journey. In these countries, farmers are planting new seeds, using fertilizers and finding buyers for their harvests.”
We must seize the opportunity and develop public-private partnership programs that are localized and that can help increase fertilizer application in a responsible and efficient manner in regions where the soils are famished for nutrients.

Our Business Model
Let me be clear: fertilizers are an absolute requirement for crop productivity and as such we are running a vitally important industry.  What may appear as challenges are actually tremendous opportunities.
Despite the obstacles, there are terrific market growth opportunities in the regions where the yield gap is more significant.  We must act collectively to allow all of us to take advantage of these opportunities.
This is not to say that we have exhausted our business opportunities in mature markets that are close to reaching their optimum yield.  In these markets, there are tremendous opportunities in terms of providing more balanced and accurate fertilization.  Improved outreach to farmers both in underdeveloped and mature markets is vitally important and I will come back to this.
But there are also great opportunities in new product development.  Concerns about insufficient nutrient use efficiencies do present serious challenges for our industry, but I believe that these can also be turned into a fantastic opportunity.
Let us keep in mind the tremendous growth in sales of specialty fertilizers that seek to improve nutrient use efficiency.  New products used in specialty fertilizers are contributing to reducing emissions of ammonia and nitrous oxide to the atmosphere, as well as nitrate leaching and phosphate runoff into surface and groundwater.

Outreach to farmers
The greatest gains in terms of reducing environmental impact of fertilizer use are to be found in the application techniques. We have to find new models for knowledge transfer and last-mile delivery. Ever improving nutrient stewardship programs and nutrient performance monitoring systems are also vital elements of innovation for our industry.
The world counts 1.5 billion farmers, and 70% of them are smallholders, farming on fields of one or two hectares. Small family farms are a critical engine of food supply. However, they operate under great constraints.
Small farmers around the world urgently need  fertilizers to become more productive in order to:
•          grow enough and more nutritious food
•          become reliable suppliers
•          increase their incomes and improve their lives in rural areas
•          create jobs and new economic opportunities for the youth
•          reduce gender inequalities by giving women access to productive resources
•          protect our ecosystems and be resilient against climate change
It is straightforward to see that our primary partners in all our efforts towards food security are also our customers: the farmers. Farmers need our products to grow their crops.
I stress that we depend on farmers, big, medium and small, men, women and youth, to use our products appropriately so they can increase their yields and take care of their land, soils, environment and livelihoods.
Our industry has a role to play in serving all farmers worldwide but in particular in empowering smallholders in Africa, Asia and Latin America to become commercial farmers.
Multi-stakeholder partnership for farmer outreach
Partnering with farmers to provide balanced nutrition and contribute to feeding a growing population is the fertilizer’s industry imperative. But how can we fulfill our mandate most effectively is a question we have to ask ourselves.
No one alone can reach out to the hundreds of millions of farmers who either already use our products but not efficiently or do not have access to them.
This quote from the FAO summarizes my vision
We need a multi-stakeholder effort to enhance outreach to farmers in order to teach fertilizer best management practices. By pooling our know-how and capacity networks with a variety of partners, we can achieve sustainable intensification, mitigate climate change, and improve access to sufficient and nutritious food for all.
Although it is true to say that without fertilizers we would only produce half of the food we eat today, the fertilizer industry alone will not solve the challenges that are posed to the agricultural sector. We ought to develop strategic partnerships with:
•          Farmer groups and all the other players in the food value chain
•          Governments
•          International organizations
•          Agronomic research centers,
•          Farmer advisors, and
•          Civil society organizations

Nutrient stewardship
By concerning ourselves with ensuring proper and balanced nutrition globally, we can inform and sway policy-makers to not only focus on nutrient losses and targets and indicators but on nutrient management programs. This is why I strongly believe that nutrient stewardship should be the priority for the association and each member company.
Under the leadership of IFA’s governing bodies, the Secretariat has embraced nutrient stewardship as a priority and developed a cross-cutting program of activities engaging all IFA members.
I would like to present to you IFA’s strategy on nutrient stewardship and update you on some of the activities implemented recently.
IFA’s nutrient stewardship program aims at encouraging knowledge sharing among members on fertilizer best management practices and partnering with external stakeholders to transfer knowledge to  Farmer advisors worldwide.
This strategy is organized in the following five following:

•          Cluster 1: Advocacy:
IFA works with international organizations and initiatives to share industry positions on nutrient issues and monitors and influences key processes. Good examples of this work are IFA’s activities in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals at the United Nations and to the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management.
•          Cluster 2: Research and Scientific Partnership
IFA participates in international scientific efforts and debates on nutrient-related research to map nutrient imbalances and improve understanding of the impacts of these imbalances.. IFA publishes scientific publications with leading research institutions. In 2014, a publication on water management will be published with IPNI, IPI and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
•          Cluster 3: Best Management Practices and Outreach to Farmers
IFA promotes multi-stakeholder efforts to improve nutrient management programs and facilitates national dialogues.
IFA recently hosted two country seminars on sustainable fertilizer management in China and Indonesia to relay to our members the importance of nutrient stewardship. We will continue to hold these national dialogues. IFA is keen to partner with others, and has already initiated a dialogue with farmer organizations and other actors in the food value chain.
•          Cluster 4: Policy Analysis
IFA seeks to better understand the role of government policies with regard to nutrient management This year, IFA is partnering with IPC, FAI and IFDC for a study on subsidies.  Fertilizer subsidies are absolutely crucial to help especially poor farmers increase their productivity.  Policymakers in many countries however are struggling to contain rising fiscal burdens and sometimes subsidies can trigger unbalanced crop nutrition.
•          Cluster 5: Member Engagement
IFA encourages knowledge-sharing, learning and benchmarking on nutrient stewardship among its members. IFA is encouraging voluntary benchmarking for nutrient stewardship initiatives.
I believe that this strategy will greatly contribute to improving the performance of our industry vis-à-vis the social, economic and environmental pillars of sustainable development. While many of our critics are exclusively focused on nutrient losses, I much prefer to speak of nutrient performance.
It is by addressing such scientifically complex and politically sensitive issues that the industry demonstrates its ethics and position in a global world.  We are proving to our partners that we are ready to face our challenges and find solutions collectively by working, in particular, with farmers, governments and civil society. In addition to the upcoming panel discussion, you will learn a lot more tomorrow on policymakers and policy influencers’ expectations vis-à-vis our industry. We believe it was timely for IFA to survey its reputation among elite stakeholders when we were re-considering our strategic orientation and renovating our governance system. I hope you will all attend tomorrow’s special session on the findings of our reputational analysis.
Dear members,
I have taken the floor at length this morning because I believe that my role, as President, is to keep you well informed of the important developments taking place at IFA. Our association is evolving to adapt to an environment where we are under more scrutiny. We are prepared to enter into a dialogue with all stakeholders. It is an opportune time for the fertilizer industry to rejuvenate itself, to expand to new markets, and to strengthen its reputation. We have a remarkable story to tell
With my remarks that have focused on the importance of balanced crop nutrition, I have also endeavored to set the scene for our panel discussion. I would now like to invite Charlotte to introduce to you our distinguished panel guests.
Thank you very much for your attention.