By Prosper Makene
African Fertiliser and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP)
AFAP is collaborating with the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD), the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA),
the International Fertiliser Development Center (IFDC), the African
Development Bank (AfDB), and the Agricultural Market Development Trust -
Africa (AGMARK).
The partners are working together to promote the development of
sustainable fertiliser markets in Africa and have designed AFAP to
specifically increase private sector participation and investment in
their ongoing initiatives.
According to AGRA’s new report launched late last week, AFAP’s
intervention promises to have nine new or improved blending and/or
granulation plant facilities, 600 new or improved retail or cooperative
storage facilities, and to deliver 225,000 tonnes to farmers in the
three focal countries, the goal is in addition to the 187,000 tonnes
that the Soil Health Programme is targeting.
“The principal operating mechanism of AFAP is through Agribusiness
Partnership Contracts under which eligible international, regional or
local agribusinesses apply to AFAP for assistance and, in exchange,
agree to perform significant market development activities with local
farmers and/or businesses,” the report says.
“AFAP is also working to develop “hub agro dealers” who have large
storage capacity and a business that can support smaller dealers in
their area as a move to enhance the process, AFAP provides both matching
grants and technical support,” reads the report.
The report which is titled ‘Seeking Fertile Ground for a Green
Revolution in Africa’, says that AFAP has set credit guarantee
facilities with eight banks for suppliers and others in need of large
credits and has leveraged USD1.1 million from other donors, with further
proposals submitted and approved valued at USD 3 million.
It notes that AFAP has so far invested about USD 5.2 million with
seven fertiliser companies and approved 35 partnership contracts.
“AFAP has also signed agreements with the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID), NEPAD, and the Common Market for
Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and has developed agreements with
the Ministries of Agriculture in Tanzania, Ghana, and Mozambique,” the
report reveals.
The analysis AGRA focuses on intensive efforts initiated five years
ago to move aggressively to support smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan
Africa, where lack of agriculture extension services and a scarcity of
basic soil supplements have contributed to severely depressed yields for
crucial staples like maize, banana and cassava.
While farmers in many parts of the world regularly harvest up to
five tons of maize per hectare (about 2.5 acres), African farmers
typically harvest one tonne. Overall, depleted soils cost African
farmers USD4 billion each year in lost productivity.
“We’ve shown that it’s possible to work on a very large scale to
help smallholder farmers adopt sustainable and profitable approaches to
crop production, with the proof there for all to see in the form of
significantly larger yields,” said Dr. Bashir Jama, director of AGRA’s
Soil Health Program.
The new evidence of success in addressing what many agriculture
experts view as the most significant soil health crisis in the world
comes in the wake of a June summit in Equatorial Guinea, during which
the leaders of African Union member countries pledged to significantly
step up their support for the continent’s long neglected agricultural
sector.
As part of their commitment to ending hunger in Africa by 2025, the
heads of state cited the need to double agricultural productivity, with
access to high quality “inputs” for crops at the top of the list.
According to the AGRA analysis, unsustainable farming practices,
like failure to rotate crops or apply mineral or organic fertilisers
along with persistent soil erosion are depriving croplands across
sub-Saharan Africa of 30 to 80 kilos per hectare of essential plant
nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen.
The report warns that such losses threaten to “kill Africa’s hopes for a food-secure future.”
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