By Ricky Roxas | February 1, 2011 11:44 PM EST

Ongoing protest actions that have engulfed the Middle East and North African regions could potentially affect the flow of phosphate rock supplies and disrupt global food stability, according to Australian academics.

Experts said that the present environment naturally breeds instability and subsequently restrict the flow of trade from the vast regions, where considerable deposits of phosphate rock are found. They added that phosphorous is used as an important ingredient of fertiliser.

Professor Stuart White and Dr Dana Cordell jointly said on Wednesday that "regional instability was an extra component in the potential gap between supply and demand in global phosphorus resources."

The two spoke at the Sustainable Phosphorous Summit held in the United States and are currently involved in a research on increasing phosphate rock production based at Sydney's University of Technology.

In his statement, Prof White pointed out that at present, the regions and specifically Morocco enjoy a near-monopoly hold of the world' high quality phosphate rock supply as he stressed that "even a temporary disruption to the supply of phosphate on the world market can have serious ramifications for nations' food security."

Despite that prospect, Dr Cordell warned that a plan is still wanting for governments to secure phosphorous supplies in the long term, which he said is crucial in assuring global food stability.

In that light, the two Australians floated the idea of making an investment that would fund researches in "renewable phosphorus fertilisers - recovering and re-using phosphorus from excreta, manure and food waste - and increasing the efficiency of phosphorus use throughout the process of mining, fertiliser and food processing."