Nairobi, Aug. 24 -- When cargo traffic slowed through the Strait of Hormuz this year, the cost of feeding continents moved with it. The corridor carries roughly a third of the world's urea and nitrogen-based fertilisers.

Within a week, urea prices in the Middle East climbed 19 percent. Across Africa, where food already absorbs about half of household spending, the arithmetic was brutal: urea prices doubled from $400 to $850 per tonne, triggering a sharp rise in food prices.

The resumption of fertiliser and fuel flows brings relief to strained global markets. However, relief is not resilience. This was the third major fertiliser shock in five years, following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The Horn of Africa absorbed the cost.

It ...