TEN STEPS TOWARD SUSTAINABLE AFRICAN FERTILIZER SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

TEN STEPS TOWARD SUSTAINABLE AFRICAN FERTILIZER SECTOR DEVELOPMENT

?By Michael Sudarkasa

CEO, African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership

As AFAP enters its second decade, we have noted several factors that we believe may help Africa to become effective in leveraging the benefits of using agricultural inputs, particularly fertilizer, to undergird the development of its food systems.

1) Extension and Improved?Application - farmer education in how to best apply fertilizer and about which nutrients yield what results and for what specific crops, as well as how to match soil types with certain nutrients, and how to use modern farming techniques to protect soils and improve yields, is critical. Resource: https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/lawn-and-garden/soil-and-fertilizer/

2) Nutrient Combination - toward improved yields and soil replenishment, more efforts are needed to combine the nutrient?benefits of organic fertilizer with the yield boost that comes from inorganic fertilizer. Blending the two also reduces the carbon footprint of fertilization and creates an additional value as such.?Resource: https://www.scirp.org/journal/paperinformation.aspx?paperid=85548

3) SMART Subsidization -?while more private sector fertilizer distribution networks have been created over the last decade, governments in Africa still play an active role in the industry administering fertilizer subsidy programs.?However, for a myriad of reasons these are not always executed well. Thus, greater effort will be needed to refine and improve on how these programs are delivered. Resource: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919217308618

4) Digitization - As more and more Africans in the agricultural value chain have smart phones, there are many ways to improve efficiencies, knowledge flow, trade and finance using digital platforms and tools. From inventory management, soil mapping, identifying product availability locations, dissemination of extension related information, knowledge, and training, to financing product purchases, coordinating offtake aggregation, and improving traceability and program monitoring and evaluation, there should be more utilization of digital tools to improve efficiencies in the fertilizer and other inputs. Resources: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0743016723000852 and https://www.fao.org/3/cb7943en/cb7943en.pdf

5) Farmer Cooperation and Organization - most of Africa's farmers are smallholder/ near subsistence farmers...however to optimize fertilizer use, there is a need to build larger groupings of consumers so that they can harness economies of scale to lower purchase costs, share information and training more effectively, as well as developing a unified voice with which to engage government about enabling environment improvement needs. Resources: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00164-x and https://www.crs.org/our-work-overseas/research-publications/organizing-and-managing-farmers-groups

6) Mechanization - The combination of integrating mechanization and fertilization has been proven to increase yields the world over...we need more of this in Africa. Sharing systems that also optimize available equipment amongst multiple farms have also proven successful in rolling out mechanization to Africa’s smallholders as few have the capital to purchase equipment individually. Resources: https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2019-july-2019/mechanizing-agriculture-key-food-security?and https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221191242030047X

7) Irrigation - Arguably one of the biggest impediments to agriculture sectoral growth in Africa is the fact that the sector is predominantly ran fed, which means there are limited windows when planting takes place. Conversely, greater roll out of large and small irrigation systems would allow for more extended periods of farming, leading to more harvests and greater farmer income. Resources:?https://cianr.tamu.edu/media/otefxdie/ilssi-brief-growth_interactive_022123.pdf and https://odi.org/en/insights/how-farmer-led-irrigation-can-transform-agriculture-in-africa/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9937893/

8) Aggregation - there is a need to cluster small holder farmers and link them in greater numbers to buyers of their products, as well as to link them to value chains where they begin producing crops on demand versus growing crops without?a sense of where their market will be and trying to sell them afterward. This demand driven agriculture focus will create a pull factor and encourage the use of fertilizer as farmers will have greater confidence that their investment will yield consistent returns. Resources: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030691922200077X and https://www.daimagister.com/resources/aggregation-and-farming/

9) Market Integration and Regulatory Harmonization - Increased fertilizer trade will only be possible in Africa if governments harmonize their regulations related to the industry, including reducing and eliminating non-tariff barriers, and strive for increased integration, including in making logistics related investments to reduce transportation costs. Resources: https://repository.uneca.org/bitstream/handle/10855/47864/b12000486.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y and https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/winning-in-africas-agricultural-market

10) Finance Mobilization - To grow the African fertilizer industry there will be a significant need for greater capital formation for investment in plants, blending facilities, for logistics improvement ( road, rail, ports), asset finance for wholesalers (warehouses, cold chain, transport equipment), trade finance and guarantees to facilitate more credit transactions, and lastly working capital at the farm level. Resource: https://www.cabri-sbo.org/uploads/files/Documents/report_2014_cabri_value_for_money_agriculture_3rd_dialogue_english_cabri_keynote_paper_2_alternative_financing_engl.pdf

These ten potential areas of intervention are ones that we intend to promote and to actively seek partnerships with organizations that may be more active in some of these areas than we are currently.?The value to AFAP in recognizing all these levers to growth in the African fertilizer sector is that we highlight and work to catalyze and/or implement efforts in these critical areas and motivate the development partners, hub agro-dealers and large global and continental suppliers within whom we work and engage with to support and/or directly undertake activities in these areas.

Notwithstanding the challenges that xist in the continent’s fertilizer sector today, this is indeed a golden era in Africa’s fertilizer sector’s development trajectory as there is increased focus on the mobilization of resources (technical and financial) to support fertilizer sector growth and development. Increasing numbers of global players in the industry are showing interest in Africa, governments are more open to greater private sector participation in the fertilizer industry, more and more farmers are recognizing the value of fertilizer in increasing yields, and an increasing number of hub agro-dealers and off-takers are emerging to help provide small holder farmers with much needed markets so that they can be assured of getting a return on their investment in using fertilizer (improved seeds) and more modern farming techniques.