Africa Fertilizer.org Rebrands To Africa Fertilizer

By Jane Muia / Published November 29, 2022 | 4:38 pm

KEY POINTS

Sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest fertilizer usage in the world – insufficient to replace soil nutrients lost every year to crop production. At the same time, the region’s population is growing steadily with a population size of over 2 billion people by 2050.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Africa Fertilizer.org (AFO), an initiative under the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), has today rebranded to Africa Fertilizer (AF) in a move aimed at advancing food security throughout Africa by providing in-depth data on fertilizer supply chains and availability in 18 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries.

The rebrand brought together the private sector, National governments, the African Union (AU), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, and development partners to promote the collaborative use of AF’s data to make informed decisions that address and respond to key issues of availability, policy, price, and use of fertilizer in Sub-saharan Africa.

Why Fertilizer and Food Security?

This demographic shift has resulted in an increased need for policy-makers to make decisions that lead to strong agricultural supply chains, including the tools and data needed to ensure sufficient quantities and appropriate fertilizers reach farmers on time for planting.

To help meet this need, AFO in partnership with various organizations has co-created and launched three country-specific dashboards in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana, which aggregate country-specific fertilizer data and act as trustworthy sources.

“Data sometimes looks so complicated, you wonder where to start and how [to] figure it out. This [dashboard] is highly commendable. It is easy to use and contains a lot of useful and helpful data. It will enhance our work as soil scientists and extension agents in making recommendations,” Nigeria Institute of Soil Science CEO Professor Victor O. Chude said.

The new Africa Fertilizer website builds upon previous work by displaying fertilizer data on trade, production, consumption, and retail prices for 18 SSA countries in addition to integrating the current data dashboards for Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. Users will have the ability to customize data visualizations for cross-country comparisons and access timely information on fertilizer markets.

One primary goal behind the website is to allow stakeholders to track progress in meeting the targets identified in the 2006 Abuja Declaration, using the data provided on the website.

The Africa Fertilizer (AF) website, which positions AF as the primary data source for fertilizer data on the African continent, will also serve as a trustworthy source to inform analysis and planning in advance of the 2023 African Union Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit and the design and monitoring of the 10-year action plan on fertilizer in Africa.

The partnership will prioritize engagement with the African Union Commission to build a bridge for AU member countries, to have AF recognized as an official data partner.

On its website, Africa Fertilizer will also display the recently launched Africa Fertilizer Watch, a monitoring and early warning systems tool on the impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine has had on the fertilizer markets of 10 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa as well as other indicators tracking overall market risk, affordability, availability, and distribution of fertilizer.