美国国家公共电台 NPR--How the war in Ukraine is affecting the world's supply of fertilizer

How the war in Ukraine is affecting the world's supply of fertilizer

Transcript¹

One of the effects of the war in Ukraine is a global shortage of fertilizer. Food supplies could be threatened if more fertilizer doesn't get to the world market.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

One of the biggest impacts from the war in Ukraine involves a product most consumers never see. Much of the world's supply of fertilizer comes from Russia, and NPR's Jackie Northam reports supply interruptions are having an effect as far away as a small farm in Kenya.

BENARD MWENJA: This farm is an old farm. We have been here for many years. So our farm, the soil has been overused.

JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE²: Benard Mwenja has been working this farm among the rolling hills of Kenya's Rift³ Valley for three decades. He grows mostly fruit and vegetables.

MWENJA: We have onions. We have carrots that we are planting.

NORTHAM: Mwenja's farm has already been battered⁴ by climate change. This year, there's a new headache.

MWENJA: You can see, I wanted to apply some fertilizer, but the prices are very high. We understand that this is attributed to the war between the Russia and the Ukraine.

NORTHAM: The fertilizer crisis extends far beyond Mwenja's farm. Dwindling⁵ supplies and skyrocketing costs are now impacting farms around the world. Jonathan Haines is with Gro Intelligence, a data and analytics company specializing in global agriculture and climate.

JONATHAN HAINES: We saw prices going up, and they were pretty strong in the fall of 2021. Then everything kind of went extra haywire when the conflict happened in Ukraine.

NORTHAM: Haines says the cost of fertilizer is nearly three times what it was before the war - if you can get it. Russia produces about 25% of the world's nitrogen fertilizer, but that's essentially⁶ come off the market since it invaded Ukraine. The cost of natural gas, key to fertilizer production, is also soaring. Russia has sharply cut back gas exports to Europe, which Haines says has hit fertilizer production there particularly hard.

HAINES: Fifty to 60% of capacity is just offline for nitrogen fertilizer production in Europe. It's massive. And then it's - also, it's a global market. So when, you know, knock off one supplier, it has reverberations.

NORTHAM: Many countries are changing their crops or using less fertilizer, producing smaller amounts of food, says Caitlin Welsh, director of the Global Food Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

CAITLIN WELSH: The longer fertilizer prices remain elevated, the harder it is going to be for farmers to access fertilizer and the lower their yields are going to be. The impacts of this are going to be felt for a long time.

NORTHAM: Welsh says countries in Africa and Latin America are among the most vulnerable. It would take years and billions of dollars to expand infrastructure⁷ to produce more fertilizer. One thing that could help is a U.N. plan to get Russia's supplies back on the market. But that effort has stalled. During remarks at the Security Council meeting last week, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the agreement be implemented⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANTONIO GUTERRES: If the fertilizer market is not stabilized⁹, next year could bring a food supply crisis. Simply put, the world may run out of food. It's essential that all states remove every remaining obstacle to the export of Russian fertilizers immediately.

NORTHAM: Sanctions against Russia are making it harder. Many shippers and insurers are wary¹⁰ of moving Russian goods, says Neil Roberts with Lloyd's Market Association, which resolves insurance underwriting issues.

NEIL ROBERTS: There's this extreme caution due to sanctions. So the U.S. has its own list, and the EU has one, the U.K. has one, the U.N. has one. If you're an international insurer, you are subject to all the regimes.

NORTHAM: Alzbeta Klein, the CEO of the International Fertilizer Association, says many sanctions against Russia are helpful but can have unintended consequences. Russian fertilizer has been sitting in European warehouses¹¹ since the war in Ukraine broke out because of EU sanctions.

ALZBETA KLEIN: The shippers, the logistics companies can't move it because of sanctions. And it's several hundred thousand tons in various ports across Europe.

NORTHAM: The U.N. is also trying to negotiate the resumption of Russian ammonia, an important ingredient for some fertilizers, through a pipeline¹² down to a Black Sea port. Meanwhile, back at his Kenyan farm, Benard Mwenja is worried.

MWENJA: We hear the war is not ending. If it is not ending, then how are we going to get that fertilizer if the fertilizer is coming from there?

NORTHAM: And time is running out before Mwenja starts a new planting season.

Jackie Northam, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

4 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

5 dwindling   

adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句

6 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

7 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

8 implemented   

v.实现( implement的过去式和过去分词 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• This agreement, if not implemented, is a mere scrap of paper. 这个协定如不执行只不过是一纸空文。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The economy is in danger of collapse unless far-reaching reforms are implemented. 如果不实施影响深远的改革，经济就面临崩溃的危险。 来自辞典例句

9 stabilized   

v.（使）稳定， （使）稳固( stabilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The patient's condition stabilized. 患者的病情稳定下来。
• His blood pressure has stabilized. 他的血压已经稳定下来了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。

11 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

12 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。