Kazakhstan, the new food basket of the world.

You may ask what does food on your table have to do with natural gas, but the role of this abundant natural resource in Kazakhstan is crucial to food security, here and abroad.

Most agricultural produce requires fertilizer, some estimate up to 50% in global food production. But how exactly are fertilizers made? The answer lies in natural gas.

Natural gas is the primary feedstock for the synthesis of ammonia, a key component of nitrogen-based fertilizers. The Haber-Bosch process, which combines atmospheric nitrogen with hydrogen extracted from natural gas, accounts for over 70% of global ammonia production, with the remainder produced through coal gasification.

The impact of natural gas-driven fertilizers on food security is substantial. Crop yields, particularly for staples like wheat and rice, have increased significantly in recent decades due to the application of nitrogen fertilizers.

More crop yields = better food security, especially when considering the burgeoning global population.

The UN Sustainable Development Goal #2 aims exactly this: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030.

According to the United Nations, an estimated 2.4 billion people faced moderate to severe food insecurity in 2022 – an alarming escalation by 391 million people compared to 2019

You can start to see the importance of natural gas in global food security.

Kazakhstan is a prominent advocate of food security. In fact, it was Kazakhstan’s proposal at the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in 2011 that led to the creation of Islamic Organization for Food Security.

Headquartered in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, the IOFS says it aims to enhance food security and sustainable agriculture by providing expertise, technical support, and capacity-building initiatives while fostering collaboration among member states through unified policies, resource mobilization, and addressing environmental challenges.

There is another advantage that Kazakhstan has – we are the ninth largest country in the world by landmass, and sparsely populated, giving us the opportunity to grow food on behalf of other nation’s food security agenda. This is not a novel idea. Small but wealthy nations like the UAE or Qatar have food security-related land deals as far as Africa and Australia.

In Kazakhstan, we have the land, we have natural resources, we are strategically located. Can we turn these advantages and become the new bread basket for the world?