Soaring costs threaten rice supplies

A worker offloads a bag of disposed rice husks before burning them in a traditional kiln to produce organic fertiliser, following renewed interest in organic fertiliser as global prices for chemical inputs skyrocket due to the war in Ukraine, in Mwea, Kenya, on April 6, 2022. (Photo: Reuters)

Soaring fertiliser costs have rice farmers across Asia scaling back their use, a move that threatens harvests of a staple that feeds half of humanity and could lead to a full-blown food crisis if prices are not curbed.

From India to Vietnam and the Philippines, prices of crop nutrients crucial to boosting food production have doubled or tripled in the past year alone. Lower fertiliser use may mean a smaller crop.