22th March 2021:
Towards a Global Monitoring of Fertilizer Usage in Crop Production
Today, the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) and agri benchmark Cash Crop announced the start of a joint project. Its aim is to make the use of fertilizers in global crop production transparent to the public and to all stakeholders.
Fertilizer use in crop production is a very topical issue: on the one hand it is the cornerstone for improved crop growth and hence an important part of global food security. On the other hand, the inefficient use of fertilizers can contribute to environmental issues globally.
For IFA’s Chief Scientist Achim Dobermann “it is key to develop a better understanding of actual global fertilizer use. A solid baseline provides the foundation for developing interventions and it is necessary for measuring how well these interventions are performing to improve and sustainably expand the use of fertilizers across the world.”
Therefore, the project will deliver the following key outputs:
The current project will initially look at seven countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa and will be completed in March of 2022. However, provided this pilot phase generates the expected outcome, both parties will continue working together on a global roll out.
Yelto Zimmer, who is coordinating the agri benchmark network at the Thünen Institute says: “We will work very closely with our national crop production economists to identify major differences in fertilization strategies in the countries of interest. Based on regional statistics, national estimates will be generated. With this project, agri benchmark will be able to broaden its global data on crop production economics data."
For further information, please reach out to IFA Policy Analyst Samy Beltaief (
agruere@fertilizer.org) or Travis Jansen (travis.jansen@agribenchmark.net) who is the project manager at the agri benchmark Center.
The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) promotes the efficient and responsible production, distribution and use of plant nutrients to enable sustainable agricultural systems that contribute to a world free of hunger and malnutrition. IFA is the only global fertilizer association with a membership of more than 470 entities, encompassing all actors in the fertilizer value chain from producers through traders and distributors, as well as service providers, advisors, research organizations and NGOs. 
www.fertilizer.org
agri benchmark Cash Crop is a non-profit global network of agricultural economists, coordinated by the German Thünen Institute and the non-profit company global networks. Its aim is to generate and disseminate reliable and usable analyses of major trends in global crop production for decision makers. For more information, please visit www.agribenchmark.org.
Press Release (German):
Auf dem Weg zu einem globalen Monitoring des Düngemitteleinsatzes