Timely access to affordable fertilizers will drive agriculture development in Africa, experts say

Achieving sustainable agricultural growth and development in Africa has been hinged on more farmers getting timely access to affordable fertilizers, by stakeholders and agriculture experts who attended the 7th Governing Council meeting of the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM).

AFFM’s first Annual Report was approved during the meeting held last month and discussed ways to facilitate improved access to fertilizers for smallholder farmers. The AFFM Governing Council provided recommendations on the AFFM baseline study and communication strategy. They also considered progress reports on the implementation of credit guarantee schemes for fertilizer importers, distributors and agro-dealers. This is expected to facilitate funding of these agriculture value-chain players by financial institutions. Fertilizer credit guarantee models are currently being developed in Nigeria and Tanzania.

“These solutions will go a long way in contributing to transforming the fertilizer sector in Africa and ensuring a sustainable access to quality fertilizers that Africa needs to achieve food security,” said Marie Claire Kalihangabo, Coordinator of the Mechanism at the African Development Bank.

Josefa Leonel Correia Sacko, the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture and Chairperson of the AFFM Governing Council called for speedier implementation of the Abuja Declaration, a set of resolutions adopted by African heads of state in 2006 to achieve the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP).

“Progress on implementation of these resolutions has been slow due to several barriers at national and regional levels. These barriers include financial constraints affecting AFFM operations, insufficient number of agro-dealers, ineffective fertilizer laws, unconducive investment policy environments, and undeveloped market infrastructure among others,” Sacko said.

The high cost of fertilizers was a key bottleneck for Africa’s smallholder farmers, said Martin Fregene, Director of Agriculture and Agro-Industry at African Development Bank. Fregene said smallholder farmers particularly needed special support – as they usually cannot afford the high prices of fertilizers. He remarked that an inclusive approach involving all value chain actors was needed to attain the target of 50kg of fertilizer nutrients per hectare.

CALEB OJEWALE