African leaders have vowed to triple fertilizer use on the continent over the next decade as part of a major effort to boost food production and improve the nutritional quality of African agricultural soils, which are in decline amid overuse and the effects of climate change.
That pledge, laid out in the Nairobi Declaration, was signed by African heads of state Thursday at the close of the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. It was the first such summit to be held in 18 years and brought together some 4,000 delegates to deliberate the state of soil health and food security, while also finding ways to incentivize fertilizer use — particularly among smallholder farmers — over the next decade.
In addition to the declaration, by the end of the three-day event, heads of state had approved a 10-year African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan, agreed on a financing mechanism for that plan, and endorsed the Soil Initiative for Africa. The fertilizer plan calls for the tripling of domestic production and distribution of certified quality organic and inorganic fertilizers to improve access and affordability for smallholder farmers, while the soil initiative seeks to reverse land degradation and restore health of at least 30% of degraded soil.
About the author
Anthony Langat
Anthony Langat is a Kenya-based Devex Contributing Reporter whose work centers on environment, climate change, health, and security. He was part of an International Consortium of Investigative Journalism’s multi-award winning 2015 investigation which unearthed the World Bank’s complacence in the evictions of indigenous people across the world. He has five years’ experience in development and investigative reporting and has been published by Al Jazeera, Mongabay, Us News & World Report, Equal Times, News Deeply, Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Devex among others.
