UN Urges Passage of 5 Fertilizer Vessels Daily to Avert Global Food Crisis
📣 ARTICLE HEADLINE
The United Nations urged the United States and Iran on November 14 to immediately allow five fertilizer vessels daily through the Strait of Hormuz to stop severe supply shortages from escalating into global crop failures. UN Office for Project Services head Jorge Moreira da Silva warned at the COP31 climate talks in Antalya, Turkey, that ongoing maritime blockades threaten to push 45 million people into acute food insecurity and force 30 million into poverty.
Blockade drives fertilizer prices up 30 percent while choking a third of global supply
Before the conflict, a third of the world’s fertilizers passed through the Strait of Hormuz, but military blockades following a joint US-Israeli attack against Iran in late February cut off key shipping channels and drove global fertilizer prices up 30 percent. In Sudan, food costs doubled within six months, while farming communities in Nepal, Mozambique, Kenya, Somalia, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka face severe shortages during active planting seasons. The United Nations maintains a dedicated task force system capable of safely moving fertilizer shipments through the waterway within seven to 10 days once permission is granted.
The shipping disruptions began after military action against Iranian targets in late February triggered retaliatory waterway closures by Iran alongside reciprocal US blockades of Iranian ports.
