Overview
- Markets tightened after the war in Iran began on Feb. 28, when fighting around the Strait of Hormuz cut natural gas flows and disrupted shipping that chemical-fertilizer plants rely on.
- Global fertilizer prices have jumped roughly 40–50 percent since the conflict, according to reporting and the World Bank’s fertilizer price index, squeezing farmers’ input budgets and planting decisions.
- Farmers from Senegal to India and Brazil are turning to compost, manure, jivamrita and microbial biofertilizers as cheaper, locally sourced alternatives to scarce commercial nitrogen products.
- Governments and industry are scaling programs to help the transition, including Senegal’s April pledge to subsidize and distribute 30,000 tons of organic products and India’s May 10 national mission to cut fertilizer use by half, but supply, labor and funding gaps limit reach.
- Experts warn the disruption raises near-term food-security risks while offering long-term environmental gains—soil carbon gains and lower greenhouse emissions—but widespread adoption will take time, training and targeted policy support.