ROME, December 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
PhosAgro ("PhosAgro" or "the Company") (Moscow Exchange, LSE:
PHOR), one of the world's leading vertically integrated
phosphate-based fertilizer producers, has signed a cooperation
agreement in the field of sustainable soil management with the
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
According to the FAO, soil pollution, including through heavy
metals such as cadmium, nickel and arsenic, is currently affecting
food security throughout the world by limiting crop yields and
decreasing product quality. A third of the soil in the world is
considered to be degraded, and the area continues to expand.
Experts from the FAO have called on all governments to reduce soil
pollution for the sake of the planet's future security. In doing
so, they claim that, given that the world's population is projected
to exceed 9 billion by 2050, humanity will not be able to produce
enough food to feed everyone at current rates of consumption and
without healthy soils.
PhosAgro fertilizers are used in 100 countries throughout the
world. The Company cannot stand idly by, and it is prepared to
expedite a solution to the problem of global food security both by
providing farmers around the world with high-quality
phosphate-based fertilizers that are low in potentially hazardous
impurities and by taking part in international initiatives to
protect the environment. One of the effective ways of resolving
this issue is the Company's fruitful cooperation with UNESCO,
another organisation in the UN system, to promote scientific and
applied research in the field of green chemistry, thus contributing
to the improvement of production efficiency and preservation of the
environment, with the involvement of young scientists from all
around the world.
Taking part in a ceremony to sign the agreement on World Soil
Day, PhosAgro Group CEO Andrey
Guryev said: "Our strategy is completely consistent with
the goals and objectives of the FAO in terms of ensuring global
food security and eliminating hunger, and we highly value the
practical results of this project.
"Taking into account the project's scale and significant
potential, PhosAgro will play an important role in establishing a
unified global scientific and information mechanism that promotes
the advancement of technologies and knowledge in the field of
sustainable land use and agriculture, thereby helping farmers, as
well as anyone else involved in intensive farming practices, grow
crops efficiently, while not contributing to the accumulation of
pollutants in the soil."
PhosAgro Independent Director and former Director-General of
UNESCO Irina Bokova said: "PhosAgro has a strong track record
of supporting globally-relevant projects that aim to improve the
quality of life for a wide range of stakeholders. I initially had
the opportunity to work with the Company when they became the first
Russian company in the history of the entire UN system to provide
financial support for a joint initiative with UNESCO and the IUPAC.
The Green Chemistry for Life programme, which has been running for
over five years now, has helped talented young scientists from all
over the world to further develop projects based on the green
chemistry principles and green technologies.
"I am extremely pleased that PhosAgro is now developing a
project with FAO, another UN organisation. This joint PhosAgro-FAO
project is a timely initiative aimed at resolving challenges faced
everywhere in the world, and that are part of the global
sustainability agenda to 2030. Particular attention will be paid to
goals like eliminating hunger and poverty in developing countries,
protecting our planet's ecosystem and cooperation on improving
healthcare."
Marcela Villareal, FAO
director for partnerships and south-south corporation division
said: "Through signing this Agreement today, both PhosAgro and
FAO express the commitment to strengthen our collaboration into a
fruitful partnership, with the specific goals of supporting small
scale farmers through the Global Soils Doctors Programme and the
enhancement of national soil laboratories through the Global Soil
Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN)"
"I trust this collaboration will become an innovative and
replicable model of partnerships between FAO and the private sector
that will concretely contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda."
About the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialised
agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to
defeat hunger. The FAO's goal is to achieve food security for all
and to make sure that people have regular access to enough
high-quality food. With no fewer than 194 member states, the FAO
works in over 130 countries worldwide. The FAO is a neutral forum,
as well as a source of knowledge and information. It helps
developing countries and countries in transition modernise and
improve their agriculture, forestry and fishery industries.
About PhosAgro
PhosAgro is one of the world's leading vertically integrated
phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes
of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a
P2O5 content of 39% and higher.
The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer
in Europe (by total combined
capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of
high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content
of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the
leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline
concentrate (according to the RAFP).
PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of
fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate,
which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the
world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets
outside of Russia and the CIS are
Latin America, Europe and Asia.
PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and Global
Depositary Receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock
Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1
June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI
Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.
More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website:
www.phosagro.ru.