Segurança alimentar: a importância da explotação de minerais estratégicos de fósforo e potássio na Amazônia Azul, Amazônia e faixa de fronteira para a produção de fertilizantes

Abstract

Moderate to severe food and nutrition insecurity reached, in 2021, 28.1% of the world population. In Brazil, this level reached 30.7% of Brazilians, of which 15.5% lived with hunger. In a contrasting scenario, in the same year, the agribusiness trade balance reached a record value of US$ 105.1 billion, 2.4 times greater than the total deficit registered by other sectors of the economy. Brazil is the fifth largest food exporter in the world, behind the United States, Holland, Germany and France, being the world's largest producer and exporter of soy, coffee, sugar and orange juice. All this agricultural production also required a record demand for fertilizers, which made Brazil consume 8.3% of this input produced in the world, ranking fourth. Brazil imported 95% of all potash used as a raw material for the manufacture of fertilizers from Canada, Russia and Belarus and 72% of all phosphorus and phosphate rock from Egypt, China and Peru. However, the country has deposits of these substances in sensitive areas, such as the Amazon, Blue Amazon and Border Range, capable of minimizing dependence on the international market, which need to be made possible with sustainability and environmental and social responsibility. For decades, Brazil has been investing in geological mapping and mineral research projects that lead to new discoveries of P and K deposits, but still insufficiently. Other government actions have been implemented, but much remains to be done to guarantee the production of these raw materials on Brazilian soil.