2024 African Fertilizer Summit, Nigeria yet to meet 50kg resolution

 

As the second leg of the African Fertilizers Summit will be rounding up today in Nairobi, Kenya, Nigeria the first host country in 2006 may have been perceived as being a failure to not meeting up with the 50kg per hectare fertilizer resolution.

About ten countries in the African continent excluding Nigeria had been identified to have met with the 50kgs fertilizers quantity resolution in Africa per hectare.

Given the strategic importance of fertilizer in achieving the African Green Revolution to end hunger, the African Union Members States had resolved to increase the level of fertilizer consumption from the 8kgs per hectare to 50 by 2015.

This is 2024, Nigeria has only moved to 22kgs per hectare in spite the state of emergency being declared on the sector by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said one of the highly respected experts in the sub sector of inputs and soil management who wanted to remain anonymous as he spoke with you.

The expert lamented that almost twenty years of fertilizer increase applications to enhance food security and green revolution in the country and Africa respectively, Nigeria has only been able to achieve 22kg/ hectare which was far below 50kg of the 2006 summit resolution by African member states, adding that the Growth Enhance Scheme Program ( GES) had helped to achieve the 22kg per hectare level in Nigeria.

Our source admitted that for food security and green revolution to come to fruition, the best agricultural practices must be applied saying that " It is not only fertilizers application that can give better yield and food security, but also the use of improved seeds with other best agronomics practices must be ensured"

Our anonymous pointed out that Nigeria is well represented at the high power meeting of the fertilizer summit in Nairobi, Kenya as he expressed optimism that the country would definitely take any fresh decision over there very serious than before.

The ten countries that have performed above 50kg per hectare in the continent are Morocco 55.29kg, Eswatini 57.77, Botswana 59.27, Kenya 60.66, Zambia 63.90, Malawi 96.74, South Africa 104.64, Mauritius 186.50, Seychelles 542.47 and Arab Republic of Egypt 542.57 according to the African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Ambassador Josefa Sacko.

As we have recorded only 10 member states that have complied to the resolution of 50kg almost eighteen years ago, also were 22 countries with less than 10kg per hectare as Nigeria was a better performer than these ones.

However, the second Africa fertilizer summit is meant to address looming soil health crisis so as to be able to drive the continent's Agricutural transformation towards ensuring its future food system productivity.

 The African Union’s Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit (AFSH24) that kicked off 2 days ago in Kenya, drawing together over 4,000 participants including 8 heads of states, 25 and 33 ministers of Agriculture and foreign affairs respectively, government officials, scientists, representatives of civil society and other partners is expected to have a fruitful deliberation towards Africa food security.

The summit was co-organized by the African Union and the Government of the Republic of Kenya, with support from various partners, and it's aimed to foster crucial discussions on enhancing the value of land as a pivotal asset for farmers.

Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), Mithika Linturi expressed optimism that critical decisions will be arrived at during the summit to drive an immediate transformation in Africa's soil health for the attainment of food security and economic growth.

He said, “Several AU member states are lagging in achieving the 50kg/ha target of the Abuja Declaration. The AFSH Summit is the continent’s largest soil health forum and I believe it will set the pace to quickly reclaim Africa’s degraded soils.”

This year's Summit with the theme “Listen to the Land” seeks to evaluate the state of Africa’s soil health, while reviewing the progress made since previous commitments by African leaders to boost fertilizer use for agricultural growth in Africa. 

Expected outcomes from the event include the drafting and endorsement of the Nairobi Declaration on Fertilizer and Soil Health, a comprehensive document delineating commitments, strategies, and actionable directions aimed at enhancing the sustainability of fertilizer use and other soil health practices at both the regional and continental levels.

Also being expected from the event is a 10-year Action Plan and mechanisms to finance, offering concrete guidelines on new policies and investments to drive soil health transformation across Africa.