The Environmental and Geopolitical Ramifications of Synthetic Fertilisers
Published: Jan 8, 2025 Reading time: 2 minutes Share: Share an articleThe Czech Republic is dependent on Russia for food security. This is because Russia is one of the leading exporters of the key nutrients needed to produce the synthetic fertilisers that Czechia has come to rely on so heavily in order to “feed” its malnourished soil.
In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the price of natural gas skyrocketed and it made the price of food and fertiliser dramatically more expensive. Instead of supporting domestic production, however, many EU countries – including the Czech Republic – began to import cheap fertilisers from Russia. Czech soil is so utterly dependent on the chemicals provided in these synthetic fertilisers that without these imports, Czechia would have suffered a major food crisis.
This dependence is dangerous and puts the nation’s food security is at risk. Not only because it depends on a hostile regime for imports, but also because it is completely reliant on large agricultural corporations for synthetic fertiliser. It is no secret that these fertilisers are made up of non-renewable resource and have alarmingly negatively impacts on the soil, the climate and human health.
It is for this reason that, in collaboration with the Association for International Affairs, we created a factsheet that discusses the intersecting dependencies on synthetic fertilisers and their detrimental impacts. The factsheet also presents clear and realistic solutions to phrasing out these synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, restoring natural grasslands and enhancing landscape features. While the solutions cannot be implemented overnight, it is entirely possible (and very necessary) to effectively transition to a more agro-ecological way of farming and end Czechia’s reliance on others for food security.
Click here to view the entire factsheet: https://climate.peopleinneed.net/media/publications/2527/file/synteticka-hnojiva-eng.pdf
