It is often said that a
house is only as strong as the foundation upon which it sits. The same may be
said for the importance of soils in keeping our agricultural sector productive,
sustainable and resilient.
Soils are the cornerstone of our food chain, yet they receive
scant attention or recognition for the role they play. For this reason, the
United Nations has declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils – to raise
awareness while coordinating various sectors’ efforts to research and care for
soils.
Perhaps nowhere else than in Africa is this issue of soil more
important. More than 70 percent of the African population relies on agriculture
in some way for their livelihoods, and its growth has the potential to catalyze
much broader development goals – from reducing poverty and hunger to improving
health and nutritional status.
Africa has 60 percent of the world’s remaining uncultivated arable
land, yet Africa’s soils are in crisis. It is estimated that 65 percent of
arable land is degraded by eroding topsoil or depleted nutrients from
“unhealthy” farming practices. The economic loss from these nutrient losses are
estimated to be worth the equivalent of $4 billion annually in sub-Saharan
Africa alone.
In a continent whose population is predicted to add almost one
billion additional people by the year 2030, our soils present a strategic
natural resource for nations. African countries are at a critical point in
their development where they can harness – as most other developed countries
have already done – agriculture’s role in driving economic prosperity.
This agricultural transformation in Africa will require both
smallholder farmers as well as commercial farmers to symbiotically work
together. More critically, it will also require the commitment of African political
leaders to live up to the commitments they made in the 2003 Maputo Declaration,
where they adopted the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme
(CAADP) as a framework for the restoration of agriculture growth and food
security and where they further pledged to increase budget allocations to
agriculture to 10 percent of GDP expenditure.
African heads of state affirmed this priority in their 2014 Malabo
Declaration, including a pledge to end hunger and malnutrition by 2025 by at
least doubling current productivity levels and bringing down incidences of
stunting to 10 percent and underweight persons to 5 percent of the population. Healthy,
fertile soils are essential in meeting this agricultural productivity challenge
in Africa.
One area requiring urgent attention is the low usage of fertilizer
among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Fertilizer application rates
in Africa are at around 11 kilograms per hectare, which is not even one-tenth
the equivalent global average.
The result of low fertilizer use in Africa is that cereal crop
yields are one-third those in developing Asia and only one-tenth as in the
United States. By simply increasing crop yields in Africa by 1 percent, it is
estimated that this could lift two million Africans out of poverty.
Recognizing this potential economic benefit, the African Union
passed their “Abuja Declaration” in June 2006, which agreed to support an
increase in fertilizer use to 50 kilograms per hectare by 2015 – a goal which
sadly looks unlikely to be achieved.
So how then can soil health be bolstered on the African continent?
The first way is to invest in infrastructure. Without adequate
road and port facilities, the costs of transporting inputs like fertilizer will
remain high, and farmers’ ability to access markets for their crops will remain
more constrained. Currently, only 16 percent of Africa’s 1.8 million kilometres
of roads are paved, and only 25 percent of Africans have access to a market
within two hours.
Another route is to offer more extensive and relevant training
programmes for farmers and agricultural input retailers. A hub agro-dealer
model developed by the African Fertilizer and Agri-business Partnership (AFAP)
to consolidate the input supply chain ensures that there is a constant availability
of adequate fertilizers, improved seeds and crop protection products as well
knowledge about how to use the right input source, at the right rate, at the
right time, in the right place. Through a “hub-and-spoke” model, inputs and
extension advice can be distributed to rural areas at lower prices. Similarly,
the Africa Fertilizer Volunteer Programme currently being spearheaded by IFA
and AFAP supports global fertilizer experts in volunteering their time and
knowledge to help smallholder farmers to better access fertilizers while
building a more reliable agricultural value chain.
African countries are at a critical moment in their development
trajectories. They could see their crop production soar and their economic
growth skyrocket. Paying close attention to their agricultural sectors should
be at the heart of this investment for the long term, helping the continent to
unlock its potential and secure a prosperous and sustainable future for all
Africans. Empty, unhealthy African soils are unlikely to sustain poverty and
hunger reduction in the continent. African leaders must take decisive action
now if Africa is to walk out of its current quagmire of hunger and poverty.
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