He said a lot of fertilizer suppliers had applied for Latvia to replace the Russian and Belarusian importers. Gerhards added that while suppliers are available, the problem is the high price of fertilizer, so balance should be sought on how much fertilizer is used.
In an interview with Latvian Radio, the head of the Latvian Rural Consultation and Education Center's crop division, Oskars Balodis, said that by reducing the use of fertilizers by 10% to 20%, productivity will not decrease significantly but the quality might suffer a little.
The Minister also confirmed that in Latvia, there is enough food for at least two months in a crisis situation. The problem could be the supply of cattle and poultry feed. In view of the high price of grain, entrepreneurs might be interested in selling them abroad, so Latvia might lack poultry feed. Therefore, Gerhards believes that attention should be paid to developing some support mechanisms in order to have grain reserves.