Colombia-Ukraine Crisis/Fertilizer Prices

Shotlist

Bogota, Colombia – June 28-30, 2022 (CCTV – No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of farmer Robinson Poveda digging potatoes in field
2. Plants in soil
3. Various of farmers preparing, spraying fertilizer on field
4. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Robinson Poveda, farm operator (ending with shots 5-6):
“One year ago, we paid 110,000 pesos (around 26 U.S. dollars) for a bag of fertilizer. Now the price for a bag of fertilizer is 300,000 pesos (around 72 U.S. dollars). The fertilizer we use are mainly imported from Europe, so the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has a huge impact on us. For small-scale farmers like us, we cannot afford to grow more land.”
5. Poveda walking in lettuce farm
6. Various of farmer sorting harvested lettuce
7. Rural household
8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Robinson Poveda, farm operator (partially overlaid with shots 9-10):
“The current situation has raised alarm bells. The rising prices of imported fertilizer have severely impacted the livelihood of farmers. We are also trying to reduce the dependency on imported fertilizers by growing other crops instead, such as allotting part of the land to grow lettuce. Because lettuce has a short harvest cycle and requires less fertilizer.”
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
9. Lettuce in farm land
10. Various of Poveda sorting harvested lettuce
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
11. Various of farm land, rural landscape

Storyline

Farmers in Colombia are feeling the pain of rocketing prices of imported fertilizers, as the prolonged conflict between the world’s two biggest fertilizer exporters and subsequent sanctions continue to affect global fertilizer prices.

As a main importer of fertilizers, Colombia imports more than 2 million tons of fertilizers annually, mostly from Russia and Ukraine. Prices of imported fertilizers have increased nearly threefold since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out.

Robinson Poveda, a 27-year-old in Colombia’s capital, Bogota, operates a family farm with his father and sister. The main crop of their farm are potatoes.

“One year ago, we paid 110,000 pesos (around 26 U.S. dollars) for a bag of fertilizer. Now the price for a bag of fertilizer is 300,000 pesos (around 72 U.S. dollars). The fertilizer we use are mainly imported from Europe, so the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has a huge impact on us. For small-scale farmers like us, we cannot afford to grow more land,” said Poveda.

The rising costs of planting have led to higher potato prices, said Poveda, adding that prices of food such as vegetables and eggs soared by at least 20 percent compared with last year.

Due to insufficient domestic production capacity and a depreciated Colombian peso, the Colombian Agriculture Association (CAA) said the country will continue to depend on fertilizer import and face a significant increase in import costs in the second half of 2022.

Farmers like Poveda are making changes to their crop plans in the face of fertilizer shortage and rising costs of growing potatoes.

“The current situation has raised alarm bells. The rising prices of imported fertilizer have severely impacted the livelihood of farmers. We are also trying to reduce the dependency on imported fertilizers by growing other crops instead, such as allotting part of the land to grow lettuce. Because lettuce has a short harvest cycle and requires less fertilizer,” said Poveda.