Upcoming Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit Charts a Productive Path for African Agriculture
We are at a very important time for African agriculture as the continent faces a myriad of challenges linked to unsustainable agriculture including chronically low ag productivity and human malnutrition, which is estimated to be seriously impacting at least 20% of the African population.
Recognizing the critical role fertilizer and soil health has in tackling this problems, the African Union (AU) will be convening heads of states, ministers, and agricultural development partners in Africa this on 7-9 May 2024, in Nairobi, Kenya, at its Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Summit. The forum’s primary objective is to launch its initial commitments though a 10-year Action Plan for associated investments.
“The Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan is a 10-year commitment to investments addressing the bottlenecks farmers face for access and affordability of fertilizer, lime, and complimentary organic resources, said Dr. Shamie Zingore, Director of Research & Development at the African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI). “It will also outline the critical resources and systems required for supporting the technologies needed by farmers to ensure they can manage these resources efficiently and effectively.”
Because of its core competence in enhanced plant nutrition for a resilient and food-secure Africa, APNI was recruited by the AU and its development partners to lead the process of drafting this guidance for investment by governments, private sector and partners in development while playing critical organization and facilitation roles for AFSH itself.
“Ultimately, we wish to change the development trajectory of Africa towards a more sustainable pathway,” explains Zingore. “Building on the 10-Year Action Plan, AFSH will identify the key critical areas for investment into policy and market investments but also into the critical technologies for sustainable plant nutrition and soil health management on the continent. These targets will be necessarily underpinned by accelerated support for building research and extension capacity to ensure knowledge generation is both relevant and practical for Africa’s farmers and translated into scalable solutions for sustained improvement of agricultural productivity across Africa.”
Visit our YouTube Channel to learn more from Dr. Zingore about the upcoming AFSH Summit and its expected outcomes.
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About APNI
APNI is a not-for-profit research and development institute based in Benguérir, Morocco, with the mission of enhanced plant nutrition for a resilient and food-secure Africa. The Institute works to develop and promote sustainable plant nutrition management practices and innovation through research, education, and outreach and has active programs across Continental Africa. Website: https://www.apni.net
