Uralchem-Uralkali Group has announced that a humanitarian shipment of 34,000 tons of fertilizers for Kenya has been fully loaded onto a vessel in Riga, Latvia, and has started its journey to Mombasa.
The delivery is the Group’s second donation in a series of shipments of its fertilizers, currently stored in the European ports and warehouses, to a number of African countries.
The previous consignment from Europe to the world’s second most populous continent consisted of 20,000 tons of complex fertilizers and was officially handed over to Malawi in early March.
The shipment for Kenya, comprising potash, urea and NPKS, is also being implemented in close cooperation with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP), which has chartered the vessel to transport the fertilizers. Same as with the previous joint shipment, the Uralchem-Uralkali covers the sea freight and other delivery costs.
Uralchem-Uralkali is committed to donating a total of approximately 300,000 tons of mineral fertilizers to developing nations to alleviate the unprecedented global food crisis and prevent significant crop loss in countries that face such risks, the Grp said in a statement.
“Fertilisers play an immensely important role in global food security systems and over 40% of the world population depends on agricultural items grown with the help of plant nutrients. The surges in fertiliser prices that took place in recent years led to significant cutbacks in food production, especially among smallholder farmers from the developing world. And this has put millions of people at risk of starvation”, Dmitry Konyaev, Uralchem CEO, commented.
“We believe that access to food is a basic human right and that the ongoing unprecedented food insecurity crisis can be alleviated only by joint efforts. As one of the major global producers of fertilisers we continue to donate our plant nutrients to those who need it the most. We look forward to this latest shipment being delivered to Kenya and distributed among local farmers, enabling them to reap a fruitful harvest as soon as possible,” he added.
Photo: Uralchem-Uralkali