المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

The code of conduct should include inter alia:

Ethics of individuals, companies and organisations that are involved in the management of fertilizers.

The code should include criteria for the quality of fertilizers and, in the negative sense, contaminant concentrations in fertilizers.

The code should include criteria for (i) the availability of nutrients and (ii) the time course of availability especially for slow release products.

The code should provide clear mandatory guidelines for labelling as to the elemental composition of fertilisers e.g. P, K etc. (not P2O5, K2O etc.) as well as complexing agents for micronutrients when such complexes are used. The guidelines should include 'country of origin and country of manufacture' in the labelling to minimise the number of trade disputes.

Organic materials e.g. biosolids, biostimulants, N-inhibitors, algal extracts etc. should be included in the code but separate from the traditional inorganic fertilizers and standard fertilizer complexes for micronutrients.

The code should be able to provide guidelines as to the consequences of over fertilization, erosion hazard, pollution of waterways or water bodies or groundwater.

The code ultimately should be adopted to countries participating or belonging to FAO activities. In the first instance, the code will be a 'work in progress' so adoption should not be pushed to avoid adverse or unintended consequences.