Food security

The challenge is to increase agricultural productivity and ensure a supply of affordable food for all. World population growth continues to challenge the world’s ability to provide enough food, and productivity levels in agriculture must improve. To achieve global food security without further damage to the environment, sustainable agriculture has to be promoted and implemented.

The right to food is inscribed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948, and reiterated on a number of occasions, such as at the 1974 World Food Conference and the 1996 World Food Summit. That’s where the international community pledged to achieve food security for all and to an ongoing effort to eradicate hunger. The goal was to reduce the number of undernourished people to half the level at the time by no later than 2015. That target was included in the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2000. There has been considerable progress in large parts of the world, but it now seems unrealistic that the target will be reached. With the food crisis of 2007/2008, the number of undernourished people increased, and the impact of the subsequent financial crisis may create further setbacks.

Land availability and water supply, politics and economics all play key and profoundly interlinked roles. There is strong pressure on existing farmland to produce more food, and on remaining forestlands to be converted into agricultural acreage. Climate change threatens to make water shortages more acute in regions where water is most badly needed, while politics, through local incentive schemes and global trade and competition, wields great influence. Water shortages hinder agricultural productivity in parts of the world, particularly in Africa, and because of over-utilization, there is an imminent and critical shortage of water in core food producing areas.

The fertilizer industry – and Yara – has an important role to play and the potential to make a significant and positive difference in achieving global food security. The same is true for Yara’s main stakeholder group, the global farming community, which produces the bulk of the world’s food. Yara serves the farming community and tries to contribute towards global sustainable agriculture. Its principle contribution comes through its plant nutrition products, which maintain soil fertility, increase productivity and improve the nutritional quality of food crops.

Yara’s core business is intimately connected with agricultural productivity and food production. The company has a recognized track record of increasing food production worldwide, based on its accumulated competence and global presence. As an industry shaper and global corporate citizen, Yara has taken a lead in the quest for solutions to the complex task of providing enough food for the world, while addressing global climate and ecological challenges. At the heart of the food security matter lies soil fertility, which is greatly enhanced by Yara’s fertilizer products. As a knowledge leader in this field, Yara is deeply involved in efforts to increase the intensity and sustainability of agricultural production, not least in Africa, through its engagement in the quest for an African Green Revolution.

Yara’s global reach stretches across 120 countries, and in every one of them its motivation is to meet farmers’ needs. Modern agriculture has become a knowledge-intensive activity in which mineral fertilizer is an essential ingredient. It will play a decisive role as agricultural researchers and farmers worldwide face the challenge of increasing global food production by 50–75 percent with minimal environmental impact.

Yara fertilizers consist of naturally occurring minerals and when used correctly they are environmentally benign. These plant nutrients help raise food production to keep pace with population growth and also improve a crop’s quality and nutritional value. Yara applies its knowledge to help corporate and smallholder farmers alike to maintain soil fertility and productivity, prevent land degradation and desertification and to alleviate soil nutrient mining and erosion. Yara provides them with fertilizer management tools and crop-specific nutrition plans to make sure they succeed.

Yara also works with a broad spectrum of national and international stakeholders to support sustainable high-yield agriculture. Yara has been active in the European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association’s (EFMA) work to improve the industry’s resource utilization and environmental performance, and it has played a key role in helping European farmers achieve a high level of fertilization efficiency.