African Development Bank issues call to strengthen fertilizer value chains at Argus Africa Fertilizer Conference
The African
Development Bank urged development finance institutions, NGOs, farmer
cooperatives, and the private sector to develop more effective financing
solutions for Africa’s fertilizer value chains. The Bank’s call to action came
during the Argus Africa Fertilizer Conference held on 19 February. The
conference’s theme was Supporting the fertilizer value chain to improve
agricultural productivity and economic growth in the region.
“Appropriate
investment and financing of the entire fertilizer value chain has become a
precondition for achieving our continental objectives in the area of
agricultural development,” said Marie-Claire Kalihangabo, coordinator of the
Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism, during a forum on the side-lines of the
Conference.
AFFM is a Fund
managed by the African Development Bank to accelerate agriculture development
in line with the Bank’s High-5 priority, Africa Food Security Vision, the
Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Bank and AFFM
staff presented tools and strategies to remove pain points in the fertilizer
value chains of African countries, including fertilizer guarantee instruments, loans to support fertilizer
production, as well as access to inputs like seeds and crop
protectants.
“The success of
Africa’s agriculture agenda requires a synergistic approach that will bring
down barriers and silos that are still hampering the development of the
fertilizer sector in Africa,” said Mahamadou Nassirou Ba, Economic Affairs
Officer at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Participants also
discussed the need for closer cooperation between development partners and
commercial banks to create exclusive fertilizer financing opportunities
throughout Africa and bolster small and medium enterprises in the fertilizer
sector. SMEs are thought to represent the key to providing smallholder farmers
with quality fertilizer.
Edward Mabaya,
Manager of the Bank’s Agribusiness Development Division said digital solutions
like the e-wallet in Nigeria could play a more significant role in revitalizing
and connecting the fertilizer supply chain. “The digital transformation can
greatly help actors of the fertilizer value chain to streamline their processes
and achieve better results.” Mabaya said during the AFFM’s forum.
The Forum provided
an opportunity for Mali to showcase how effective public-private collaboration
and better organization of value-chain actors helped raise the country’s
fertilizer use to 50kg of nutrients per hectare. In achieving this, the country
met a target set in the 2006 Abuja Declaration on Fertilizer
for the African Green Revolution.
“The success story
of Mali’s fertilizer expansion is partly due to the presence of
inter-professional committees per crop,” said Oumar Guindo, General Manager of
the Toguna Agro Industries, a fertilizer company based in Mali.
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