National Fertilizer Plan aims to reduce external dependence on agricultural inputs

Reducing Brazilian dependence on fertilizers, from 80% to 50%, by 2050, is the challenge of the National Fertilizer Plan, which has been worked on by the Technical Chamber of Agricultural Inputs (CTIA), since 2008, and updated with greater diligence. , since 2022, with the start of the War in Ukraine. Last week, the president of the chamber, Arlindo Moura, former president of the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers (Abrapa) and member of the Advisory Council of the cotton growers' entity, presented, in a meeting – which was briefly attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Carlos Fávaro – the material, prepared by the Working Group designated to think about strategies to minimize the subordination of national farmers to the external supply of inputs. Without these products, Brazil could not become one of the largest players world in food and cotton production. The CTIA is a chamber that involves nine ministries and is made up of representatives from production chains, especially from the input sector, such as importers and distributors.

According to Arlindo Moura, the main fronts to attack the problem involve science and technology, industrial synthesis, tax aspects and attracting investments. The production of fertilizers in the national territory, according to Moura, is expensive or unfeasible, as the deposits are deep and, especially in the Amazon forest region. “Taking fertilizer here from Brazil is more expensive than importing it, depending on location and logistics. But there is a consensus that we need, to some extent, to produce to be less hostage to imports”, he considers.

Among the solutions proposed in the document are the increase in the supply of products and technological processes, with sustainability, the training of professionals in the field of fertilizers, with support from CNPq, the promotion of efficiency in the use of the product, as well as increasing, by 100 %, the biological fixation of nitrogen in the soil, with agronomic practices. “Today, Brazil’s dependence on inputs, such as fertilizers, pesticides and machinery, is great and difficult to resolve. That’s why we’re talking about 30% in 2050. This takes time and a lot of investment and, even so, we won’t be able to be self-sufficient”, says Moura. In cotton, considering the West of Bahia, which only plants in the first harvest, fertilizers represent around 15% of production costs. This percentage has already reached 20% in the 2012/2013 harvest.

For the next harvest, according to the former president of Abrapa, fertilizer prices should be slightly lower than in the current harvest, 2022/2023, even so, above historical prices. The explanation for the reduction, according to him, was an adjustment in the market itself, in addition to government efforts to replace suppliers, with the conflict in Eastern Europe. “It is necessary to emphasize the work of former minister Tereza Cristina, who was quick and precise in the search for new offers. Imports were greater than in previous years, and there was a surplus. Canada was a country that grew significantly in terms of supply. In other countries, from which we already purchased, the volume was increased. Russia itself sent a little more fertilizer than it had been supplying, replacing Belarus and Ukraine”, he concludes.