The fertiliser crisis is leading to soaring food prices and farmers need additional funding to deal with these rising costs now, MEP Colm Markey has said.

The key component of the “enormous increase” in food prices across Europe over the last number of months is down to the cost of inputs at farm level and key to that is fertiliser, Markey said speaking at the European Parliament on Thursday.

"Two key driving factors of the cost of fertiliser were the lack of imports due to the war in Ukraine and the price of gas,” Markey said.

The response from the European Commission, he argued, has not been enough and said that additional measures and funding is needed to support the agricultural sector in the short term.

A joint purchasing scheme for fertiliser to help farmers reduce soaring production costs and make food more affordable should be launched, he said.

Alternative locations

He also argued that fertiliser should be sourced from alternative locations in the world in order to increase competitiveness in the market.

"We need to remove the anti-dumping measures and we need to ensure that there is a supply of both raw material like gas and a supply of fertiliser in the coming months ahead.

"Unless we do this, food prices will continue to increase and we can't afford for that to happen,” he said.

Across Europe, farmers and consumers are battling two ends of the same crisis with the rising cost of food, he added.