https://sputniknews.in/20260505/russia-may-not-feed-the-whole-world-but-will-play-its-role-in-that-task-11066466.html
Russia May Not Feed the Whole World, But Will Play Its Role in That Task
Russia May Not Feed the Whole World, But Will Play Its Role in That Task
Sputnik India
Not (yet) a disaster, things are under (certain) control. That has to be a general meaning of the news about fertiliser subsidy bill set to overshoot budget... 05.05.2026, Sputnik India
2026-05-05T19:57+0530
2026-05-05T19:57+0530
2026-06-01T14:57+0530
world news
mikhail mishustin
russia
india
moscow
pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (pti)
european union (eu)
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According to PTI, the Government’s fertiliser subsidy bill for the 2026-27 fiscal is expected to exceed the budgetary allocation of Rs 1.71 lakh crore, with rising costs of imported urea and other fertilisers driven by the ongoing West Asia crisis, a senior ministry official said on Monday. Aparna S Sharma, Additional Secretary in the Department of Fertilisers, said at an inter-ministerial briefing that, despite the supply chain disruptions triggered by the West Asia crisis, fertiliser availability remains “strong and stable” for the kharif 2026 season.India is definitely not the only nation that ponders the future of agriculture and tries to see what that future may look like, if things go on like they do now. Russians are doing the same. The basic idea is, industrial and geographical realities may play a certain, and definitely positive, part in Russia’s role as a savior in the oncoming global food crisis. That concept began to take shape in Moscow as early as in April, if not March, when the Hormuz Straits blockade became a shocking reality.We are talking about fertilisers, not about foodstuffs or grain from Russia being exported. And, since Russia makes about one-fifth of all fertilisers in the world, we, here in Moscow, have plenty of industrial experts able to provide us with valuable facts.To remind, global agriculture includes the vital process of turning natural gas into fertilisers, and these into calories.Dmitry Skvortsov, a business analyst, reminds us that India is holding well in the current crisis. Being the world’s biggest importer of urea, India has already proclaimed a tender for 2.5 million tons of that stuff, since, due to problems with gas delivery, the nation’s own urea production has dwindled by 600-700 thousand tons per month. The picture has to get clear by June, when the real planting season begins.But it will be really-really clear much later. While oil shocks are instant, fertiliser and food shocks are slowly creeping up on you. Gleb Prostyakov, another analyst, tells us that the current 20-30 per cent fertiliser price raise translates into only a 9 – 13 per cent jump on all kind of foodstuffs, but not immediately, only after the passing of one or two harvest seasons. And that’s how it starts.Things are not so bad currently, says Skvortsov, but the problem with any agrarian crises is, they do not come in as a shock, it’s rather something like a crack that widens gradually. And that makes such crises especially bad, since they tend to be ignored for long enough, until the moment the gran is actually being harvested.All in all, writes Prostyakov, the Hormuz crisis looks like a machine that raises all kind of prices, only thing is, it sometimes works slowly, taking years to develop.And not everyone is in a position to help. Europe may only aggravate problems, first – due to long degradation of its industries and suicidal rejection of Russian gas. And, second, if things get really bad, Europe is not going to accept and feed all the hungry people in the world. On the contrary, it will rather start squeezing out refugees and other migrants, if it wants to survive.Russia, now, has gas and all the components for producing almost any kind of fertilisers in bigger and bigger quantities. The problem is, it cannot happen in an instant.Papers in Moscow quote Mikhail Mishustin, the Prime Minister, who said as early as on April 7 that we need to lay down plans for a coherent agricultural strategy with friendly nations. That may include creating reserve stocks of all kind of commodities, but it also means definite long-term plans for investments into future production of the often-mentioned fertilisers and plenty of other things needed in the process. You only get ready for raising production, if you get firm orders.What’s important, Russia can do it all, having no problem with energy or raw materials, the nation is able to run a full cycle of such production. And it also is able to increase the output rather soon, but… that “soon” being 2-3 year’s time.Production aside, Russia also has something equally important for stabilizing markets, and that’s its geography. You may call that geography an alternative to what has crushed today.We may have thought that there were trade routes that would be there forever. While, today, nothing is sacred, be it Hormuz, or Suez, or even the Malacca Straits. We have been relying on all these sea routes for too long, say the extreme thinkers among the Russian experts. Maybe we need to remember that there is also such thing as landmass. You were telling us that sea routes are better and cheaper, so there you are, in a global crisis.Yes, it’s the same old discussion topic of the sea-power nations, forever fighting against the land-power ones, the “heartland” nations. The West have long been dominating the world due to its ability to rule the waves, build sea ports and ignore the miserable folks living on the plains. As a result, there are a lot of nations now that are having problems with vast areas far away from the sea ports, with the coasts sucking money and other resources from all kind of heartland. While the older civilizations relied on land routes and were building huge cities far away from all these ports and harbors, and they did well.So, how about now, gloat the “heartland” theorists. They say: you pirates and blood-suckers, do you feel your vulnerability after the Gulf war that is not even over? You do, since we are in for a shift of civilization concept after five hundred years of the sea-farers’ domination.Right, but there have always been nations that owned both the steppes with forests, and the coasts. India is one example, Russia another one. And it looks like Russia has all options in the uncertain world of tomorrow, controlling, developing and designing potential and real land routes like the much-discussed North-South corridor from the Indian Ocean to the North of the continents, or the long and cold area of Arctic.And here we have the news about South Koreans. That nation’s parliament is discussing a new law about Korea’s participation in development of the Arctic sea-faring, which includes that long water route, belonging to Russia. What is interesting about that initiative, is the crush of the Western idea that no decent ally of the pre-Trumpist America or of the EU should take any part of developing that route, since Russia is bad and is under sanctions. But the Hormuz Strait crisis has instilled ideas of strategic balance and strategic ambiguity into Koreans’ mind, so they are in for all kind of alternative plans, and more nations will follow suit.Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
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Russia May Not Feed the Whole World, But Will Play Its Role in That Task
19:57 05.05.2026 (Updated: 14:57 01.06.2026) Not (yet) a disaster, things are under (certain) control. That has to be a general meaning of the news about fertiliser subsidy bill set to overshoot budget estimate amid West Asia crisis.
According to PTI, the Government’s fertiliser subsidy bill for the 2026-27 fiscal is expected to exceed the budgetary allocation of Rs 1.71 lakh crore, with rising costs of imported urea and other fertilisers driven by the ongoing West Asia crisis, a senior ministry official said on Monday. Aparna S Sharma, Additional Secretary in the Department of Fertilisers, said at an inter-ministerial briefing that, despite the supply chain disruptions triggered by the West Asia crisis, fertiliser availability remains “strong and stable” for the kharif 2026 season.
India is definitely not the only nation that ponders the future of agriculture and tries to see what that future may look like, if things go on like they do now. Russians are doing the same. The basic idea is, industrial and geographical realities may play a certain, and definitely positive, part in Russia’s role as a savior in the oncoming global food crisis. That concept began to take shape in Moscow as early as in April, if not March, when the Hormuz Straits blockade became a shocking reality.
We are talking about fertilisers, not about foodstuffs or grain from Russia being exported. And, since Russia makes about one-fifth of all fertilisers in the world, we, here in Moscow, have plenty of industrial experts able to provide us with valuable facts.
To remind, global agriculture includes the vital process of turning natural gas into fertilisers, and these into calories.
Dmitry Skvortsov, a business analyst, reminds us that India is holding well in the current crisis. Being the world’s biggest importer of urea, India has already proclaimed a tender for 2.5 million tons of that stuff, since, due to problems with gas delivery, the nation’s own urea production has dwindled by 600-700 thousand tons per month. The picture has to get clear by June, when the real planting season begins.
But it will be really-really clear much later. While oil shocks are instant, fertiliser and food shocks are slowly creeping up on you. Gleb Prostyakov, another analyst, tells us that the current 20-30 per cent fertiliser price raise translates into only a 9 – 13 per cent jump on all kind of foodstuffs, but not immediately, only after the passing of one or two harvest seasons. And that’s how it starts.
Things are not so bad currently, says Skvortsov, but the problem with any agrarian crises is, they do not come in as a shock, it’s rather something like a crack that widens gradually. And that makes such crises especially bad, since they tend to be ignored for long enough, until the moment the gran is actually being harvested.
All in all, writes Prostyakov, the Hormuz crisis looks like a machine that raises all kind of prices, only thing is, it sometimes works slowly, taking years to develop.
And not everyone is in a position to help. Europe may only aggravate problems, first – due to long degradation of its industries and suicidal rejection of Russian gas. And, second, if things get really bad, Europe is not going to accept and feed all the hungry people in the world. On the contrary, it will rather start squeezing out refugees and other migrants, if it wants to survive.
Russia, now, has gas and all the components for producing almost any kind of fertilisers in bigger and bigger quantities. The problem is, it cannot happen in an instant.
Papers in Moscow quote Mikhail Mishustin, the Prime Minister, who said as early as on April 7 that we need to lay down plans for a coherent agricultural strategy with friendly nations. That may include creating reserve stocks of all kind of commodities, but it also means definite long-term plans for investments into future production of the often-mentioned fertilisers and plenty of other things needed in the process. You only get ready for raising production, if you get firm orders.
What’s important, Russia can do it all, having no problem with energy or raw materials, the nation is able to run a full cycle of such production. And it also is able to increase the output rather soon, but… that “soon” being 2-3 year’s time.
Production aside, Russia also has something equally important for stabilizing markets, and that’s its geography. You may call that geography an alternative to what has crushed today.
We may have thought that there were trade routes that would be there forever. While, today, nothing is sacred, be it Hormuz, or Suez, or even the Malacca Straits. We have been relying on all these sea routes for too long, say the extreme thinkers among the Russian experts. Maybe we need to remember that there is also such thing as landmass. You were telling us that sea routes are better and cheaper, so there you are, in a global crisis.
Yes, it’s the same old discussion topic of the sea-power nations, forever fighting against the land-power ones, the “heartland” nations. The West have long been dominating the world due to its ability to rule the waves, build sea ports and ignore the miserable folks living on the plains. As a result, there are a lot of nations now that are having problems with vast areas far away from the sea ports, with the coasts sucking money and other resources from all kind of heartland. While the older civilizations relied on land routes and were building huge cities far away from all these ports and harbors, and they did well.
So, how about now, gloat the “heartland” theorists. They say: you pirates and blood-suckers, do you feel your vulnerability after the Gulf war that is not even over? You do, since we are in for a shift of civilization concept after five hundred years of the sea-farers’ domination.
Right, but there have always been nations that owned both the steppes with forests, and the coasts. India is one example, Russia another one. And it looks like Russia has all options in the uncertain world of tomorrow, controlling, developing and designing potential and real land routes like the much-discussed North-South corridor from the Indian Ocean to the North of the continents, or the long and cold area of Arctic.
And here we have the news about South Koreans. That nation’s parliament is discussing a new law about Korea’s participation in development of the Arctic sea-faring, which includes that long water route, belonging to Russia. What is interesting about that initiative, is the crush of the Western idea that no decent ally of the pre-Trumpist America or of the EU should take any part of developing that route, since Russia is bad and is under sanctions. But the Hormuz Strait crisis has instilled ideas of strategic balance and strategic ambiguity into Koreans’ mind, so they are in for all kind of alternative plans, and more nations will follow suit.
Dmitry Kosyrev is a Russian writer, author of spy novels and short stories. He also did columns for the Pioneer and Firstpost.com
