African Fertilizer Summit 2006 - Highlights

A watershed for African agriculture took place in Abuja, Nigeria on 9-13 June. The Africa Fertilizer Summit, a gathering of more than 600 African and international policymakers and agricultural experts, resulted in key commitments to boost food production and ease Africa’s struggle with hunger.

The Africa Fertilizer Summit was chaired by Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria, Chairman of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Implementation Committee and Chairman of the African Union, as a step in his call for African heads of state, ministers, donors, industry leaders, and farmers' organizations to support the transformation of African agriculture and address the continent’s soil health crisis. 

Low soil fertility is one of the main causes of Africa’s persistent food insecurity. Under-fertilization and unbroken cultivation have led to widespread depletion of soil nutrients. Farmers in sub-Saharan use an average of only 8 kilograms of fertilizer per hectare yearly, compared with 100 to 200 kg/ha in regions that have experienced rapid growth in agricultural productivity.

Historic Goal
The Summit’s goal was to trigger an African Green Revolution by building consensus around the key issues in increasing fertilizer use in Africa and agreeing on a strategy for developing an Africa Fertilizer Action Plan to accelerate poor farmers’ access to fertilizer and other agricultural inputs.

Three days of high-level dialogue between leading African and international policymakers and agricultural experts focused by an Eminent Persons Advisory Group highlighted the significant challenges that African farmers face due to declining soil fertility and the role fertilizer can play in stimulating sustainable pro-poor productivity growth in African agriculture. Parallel sessions and side meetings brought together participants as diverse as the Rockefeller Foundation and local farmers associations to discuss approaches for rapidly increasing efficient fertilizer use by African smallhold farmers. To conclude, the Advisory Group submitted a series of policy recommendations to boost food production and ease Africa’s struggle with hunger for consideration by the following day’s pan-African gathering of government ministers.

At the one-day Ministerial Session representatives of more than 40 African nations formulated a 12-point plan of far-reaching reforms for consideration by the Summit of African heads of state, chaired by President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria on June 13. The plan was adopted without revision and entitled the Abuja Declaration on Fertilizer for an African Green Revolution.

Among the major reforms agreed upon were the lifting of all cross-border taxes and tariffs on fertilizer and the designation of mineral and organic fertilizer as a “strategic commodity.” Equally important was the agreement to establish an African fertilizer financing mechanism within the African Development Bank to finance increased fertilizer availability and access. To catalyze start-up of the fund, President Olusegun Obasanjo committed USD 10 million from the Nigerian government.

Calling the Summit to a close, President Obasanjo described it as “a milestone that would encourage Africa to take bold steps: to put its house in order, and to support agriculture in producing what we consume and building toward exports.”

In a keynote that became one of the talking points of the Summit, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General,urged participants to move on from “the market fundamentalist development strategies of the past 20 years,” and to commit to subsidizing African fertilizer supplies. He was equally adamant about the necessity for the rich countries to go good for the 25 billion promised to Africa at Gleneagles in 2005, underlining “Let’s use it for fertilizers and inputs and extension services – not for conferences on markets, and surveys by US consultants.”

In the opening day’s keynote address, ‘Father of the Green Revolution’ Norman Borlaug said that “improved seeds were the catalysts that ignited the Green Revolution, and fertilizer was the ‘fuel’ that powered it.”  Borlaug later emphasized the urgency of the Summit’s goal, “We have spent three days talking about tools and methods, now its time for action. The potential of high-yield crops needs converting into production – African’s cannot eat potential.”

On the final day, Borlaug addressed the African heads of state to stress that leadership would be all-important in rolling out Green Revolution technology. “The greening of Asia and China depended on courageous decision-making in the face of pessimism and criticism. Now it is time for you to lead, please take this chance to do so!”

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who addressed the Summit through a pre-recorded video, underlined the environmental impact of inadequate soil nutrition in Africa. “Some worry about environmental consequences of fertilizer use in Africa, but with sound management practices, the hungry soils of Africa will make almost all nutrients available to crops. In fact, the alarming mining of soil nutrients in Africa makes the use of mineral fertilizer environmentally friendly.”

Luc M. Maene, Director General of the International Fertilizer Industry Association  (IFA) saluted the Summit’s initiative to improve African food security through greater access to fertilizers. “The Heads of State and Government of the African Union demonstrated strong political will today by adopting a number of measures that should greatly improve  prospects for African farmers and rural development.”

Addressing gathering of Heads of State, Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation said, “We believe in the tremendous potential of an African Green Revolution. But to make it a reality will require the collaboration of national governments, the private sector, and the donor community. The need is great, and the time is right.”

In his‘Framing the Summit Outcomes’ address, Akin Adesina, Associate Director for Food Security at the Rockefeller Foundation called fertilizer “not the silver bullet, but the golden bullet for Africa,” and emphasized that the NEPAD goal of tripling fertilizer use can only be realized if demand and supply constraints are addressed. “The African paradox is that we have Coke but we need seeds and fertilizer. To redress the imbalance, agricultural input traders need knowledge and finance.”

Convened by the African Union and NEPAD, hosted by the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and implemented by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC).

Backed by an advisory panel of world leaders in African development that includes: Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development; Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize winner; Joaquin Chissano, former President of Mozambique; Jacques Diouf, Director General of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization; Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa; Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank; Alpha Oumar Konaré, Chairman of the African Union Commission; Firmino Mucavele, Chief Executive of the NEPAD Secretariat; and Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation. The panel convened on March 30 at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York with President Obasanjo as Chair.

Sponsors include: The Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Rockefeller Foundation, the African Development Bank (AfDB), Agriterra, the Arab Fertilizer Association (AFA), Fidelity Bank (Nigeria), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Notore Chemical Co. (Nigeria), Sasakawa Global 2000, the United Bank of Africa (Nigeria), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and The World Bank.