Urgent and Emergent: National Fertilizer Plan for Agricultural Security

Publicado em 02/10/2025

Meeting of the Superior Council of Agribusiness (Cosag) at FIESP

Published on 09/17/2025

Agriconscient Show

Broadcast by Radio Eldorado/Estadão - Brazil

* José Luiz Tejon

 Translated / Copy Desk by Teacher Francisco Barbosa Bardhal

A significant meeting of the Superior Council of Agribusiness (Cosag) was held at FIESP, addressing the emergency and urgency of a National Fertilizer Plan. We face an unacceptable dependency at a critical time for the world, full of conflicts. At this meeting, attended by various leaders, we had an extraordinary presentation by Mr José Carlos Polidoro, an advisor to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply (MAPA), who, in my opinion, is the country’s leading fertiliser expert and has also directed Embrapa Soils for a long time.

I asked him to summarize his presentation on the critical situation and the need for a National Policy and a Brazilian fertilizer industry, and he told me:

“We have reached a point where we must, in any case, increase national fertilizer production over the next five years. We have hit rock bottom by importing 90% of fertilizers for a country like Brazil, which depends entirely on this input. And since our Economy and Food Security depend on Agribusiness, this is a risk that cannot be measured.

For instance, if by 2030 we increase domestic production by 35%, based on our calculations of consumption growth over the next 5 to 10 years, we will still face a logistical problems that cannot be overcome.

And it leads to higher prices for farmers and increased production costs.

The cost of food in Brazil is already under great pressure, partly due to fertilizer costs, and we cannot let it rise further.

Fertilizers production generates many jobs; it's a basic industry that produces a key input for an entire production chain that ends up at the slaughterhouse and in the soil.

Imagine that when you apply one kilogram of nitrogen to the soil, it becomes corn and soy, which then turn into meat and eggs, and ultimately reach supermarket shelves. Along the way, value is added, and wealth also increases.

So, it's absolutely unthinkable to put all of this at risk due to the lack of a strategy that we have failed to develop over the last three decades.

This is the scenario: It’s Now or Never!”

I took the opportunity to ask Mr. Polidoro what concrete actions will be taken after this important Cosag event, and he replied:

“It became clear that the entire production chain, the private sector, and the government want the Bill Profert 669 / 2023 to be approved because it will allow five years of business improvement in the country and, in practice, reduce costs.

Imagine setting up a factory at a cost of $2 billion; if we can reduce that to $1.5 billion, it becomes much more attractive for a domestic investor when analyzing whether to invest in Brazil, Nigeria, or Paraguay. Today, those countries are more tax-attractive than Brazil, given our enormous tax burden on investment. Especially considering imported equipment and machinery, the numbers don’t add up. So that’s one point.

The other point is that we're creating a Center of Excellence in Fertilizers to utilize and apply the 70 years of knowledge we have in soil and crop management. 

We must bring together all these technological assets we already have and turn them into ‘invoices’, that is, transform them into market products where farmers can buy at competitive prices and increase their productivity.

Mainly because fertilizer in Brazil is still an elite input; almost 60% of family farmers have never opened a bag of fertilizer on their properties. 

And too many people don’t realize this when they say the country has plenty of land.

So, in Brazil, Agriculture is often seen as the villain because family farmers have low productivity, which drives food inflation and causes the basic food basket prices to fluctuate.

Thus, it is clear small farmers don't have access to and don't use fertilizers due to financial constraints as well.

Rain doesn’t help much when the soil is poor and has low fertility. If it rains, they will produce, but not at the volume they could if they used fertilizers and soil correctives,” he explained.

To conclude, I recall that Brazil has mines, the famous NPK, and bio-inputs, and all of this can be utilized and implemented.

“We´ve known this for 30 years, but unfortunately, we let it happen, preferring the easier shortcut of importing with subsidies. We reversed the logic by subsidizing something fundamental for us from abroad! And, as I said, we’ve known this for a long time.

Now is the time for the National Fertilizer Plan to deliver what is written on paper, and I am sure it won’t be due to a lack of governance. It’s not easy to bring together a Council of Ministers and major private sector leaders, where every decision must go through the President of the Republic.

This legacy is being constructed to endure for the next 25 years, and I am confident that this sector has never before witnessed governance as strong as this.

The sector must also understand that the government is not an opponent but rather the best partner,” concluded.

What a superb explanation, Mr. Polidoro!.

I truly hope we'll take action on this critical issue. We can have fertilizers and focus on what is truly important for our country, reducing “peripheral conversations” that only get in the way.

*Prof.Dr.José Luiz Tejon – PhD in Education Universidad de La Empresa/Uruguay; Academic Director Brazil+Tropical Belt Nations at International Agribusiness MBA Audencia France & Fecap Brazil; Master's degree in Art Education and History of Culture - Mackenzie University; Journalist and Publicist - Harvard, MIT and PACE/USA/ Insead in France; Specialization Academic Coordinator of Master's Science Food & Agribusiness Management at Audencia in Nantes/ France, and FECAP/Brazil; Managing Partner at Biomarketing and TCA International; Professional Head at Agri Anefac; Writer, author and co-author of 37 books; Agri Personality Award 2023/ABAG -100 Most Influential People in Agribusiness; Former director of Grupo Estadão, Agroceres and Jacto S/A; 2025 Award Agriworld Group.