The role of sustainable fertilization.

AuthorRutsch, Horst
PositionGlobal Food Security

Global Food Security and the Role of Sustainable Fertilization was the theme of an important agricultural Conference recently held in Rome, Italy. The Conference was jointly organized by the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), which for some three decades have worked together, in a unique partnership, to improve farmers' access to agricultural inputs and know-how. As a follow-up to recent high-level meetings the World Food Summit (1996 and 2002), the Millennium Summit (2000) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002)--the IFA/FAO Conference examined the progress made in achieving food security around the world, as well as reducing poverty and reversing declining soil fertility in developing countries.

The Conference focus on a number of food and fertilizer challenges, including farm management systems around the world, subsistence farming in developing countries, commercial farming worldwide, emerging biotechnologies and complementary nutrient products, as well as future action for fertilizers and farming. Key speakers included FAO Deputy Director-General David Harcharik; IFA President Wladimir Puggina; World Food Prize Laureate Per Pinstrup-Andersen; Cargill Crop Nutrition President Henk Mathot; FAO Assistant Director-General Louise Fresco; Humbolt University Professor Christian Bonte-Friedheim; and Potash Corporation President William Doyle. Discussions on sustainable agricultural practices emphasized the importance of fertilizers to improve global food security and highlighted the need for greater fertilizer use in many developing countries, due to the depletion of nutrient stocks in the soil, leading to land degradation and unsustainable agricultural production,

A number of policy recommendations and considerations emerged at the Conference and were transmitted to the FAO Committee on Agriculture Outcomes are also available online (http://www.fertilizer:org/ifa/news/2OO3_9.asp).

* Partnerships are vital to end hunger.

The eradication of poverty and hunger must be seen as a joint effort. The challenge for the international community is to develop new public/private partnerships, in which...

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