12 May 2024

Africa should prioritise investing in nitrogen fertiliser production and develop mechanisms for real time tracking of the fertiliser market trends to ensure timely availability.

When officially opening the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit, President of Kenya, Mr William Ruto said there was need to formulate sustainable strategies to make fertilisers more affordable and accessible.

He said enhancing last-mile logistics for fertiliser distribution was critical and large-scale subsidised fertiliser use was necessary to achieve Africa’s green revolution and food security was equally imperative.

President Ruto noted with concern that Africa remained heavily reliant on food imports, highlighting the limited progress achieved decades after the Abuja declaration.

He indicated that recent global economic crises, compounded by supply chain disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical dynamics, had worsened fertiliser affordability and availability, and disrupted agriculture, resulting in reduced acreage and lower yields.

“Across Africa, our people face numerous serious challenges that hinder their efforts and investments in enhancing agricultural productivity.

These include inadequate fertiliser application, extreme climate adversities and extensive land degradation, among others, all pointing to the broader issue of poor soil health,” he said.

Additionally, he said fluctuating fertiliser prices and supply chain disruptions, exacerbated by conflict in producing regions, required deep reflection on securing adequate, affordable and sustainable fertiliser production and supply across Africa.

To that effect, President Ruto stated that the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit, thus presented an opportunity for African leaders to collectively deliberate and sustain their ambition by converting challenges into opportunities.

“In our pursuit of the green revolution, it is crucial to note that Africa possesses over 60 per cent  of the world’s uncultivated arable land, yet it operates far below its agricultural capacity.

This vast potential underscores our ability and obligation to transform Africa from a hungry continent into a self-sufficient global bread basket,” he said.

He challenged African leaders to focus not only on increasing fertiliser usage but also on ensuring its judicious application to revitalise responsive soils and rehabilitate degraded ones.

Despite the current challenges, President Ruto said, it was encouraging to see several African nations making strides in fertiliser production, particularly phosphate fertilisers.

“To anchor Africa interventions in sustainability, we must design effective subsidy programmes that support both immediate productivity needs and long-term soil health,” he said.

He further highlighted the need to entrench production incentives by leveraging the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to enhance market access and profitability for farmers, adding that Pan-African integration would also provide a basis to harness research, science and technology to develop a robust African Soil Information System.

He, however, said the absence of nitrogen fertiliser production plants, due to high capital requirements, underscored the need for regional investment collaboration to enhance self-sufficiency in fertiliser manufacturing.

Moreover, President Ruto said building farmers’ capacities for effective fertiliser use and soil health improvement was also imperative. ENDS