HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Farmers around the world are feeling the squeeze of the Iran war. Gas prices have shot up and fertilizer supplies are waning due to Tehran’s near shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli bombing.
The fertilizer shortage is putting the livelihood of farmers in developing countries — already troubled by rising temperatures and erratic weather systems — further at risk, and could lead to people everywhere paying more for food.
The poorest farmers in the Northern Hemisphere rely on fertilizer imports from the Gulf, and the shortage comes just as planting season begins, said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program.
“In the worst case, this means lower yields and crop failures next season. In the best case, higher input costs will be included in food prices next year.”
Baldev Singh, a 55-year-old rice farmer in Punjab, India, says smallholders — the bulk of the country’s farmers — may not survive if the government cannot subsidize fertilizers when demand peaks in June.