African presidents endorse ‘Nairobi Declaration on fertiliser and soil health’ at special summit in Kenya

African presidents have endorsed the Nairobi Declaration on fertiliser and soil health, committing to prioritise domestic fertiliser production and triple it in the next 10 years to boost agricultural production. The heads of State adopted the declaration at the second Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit held in Kenya under the leadership of President William Ruto and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, under the theme “Listen to the soil”.

“We commit to tripling domestic production and distribution of certified quality organic and inorganic fertilisers by 2034 to improve access and affordability for smallholder farmers. This will be actualised through prioritising local production and blending of mineral fertilisers using locally available raw materials,” reads the Nairobi Declaration in part.

The leaders further committed to strengthening research and development on the utilisation of organic and inorganic fertilisers through the resuscitation of the seemingly moribund African Centre for Fertilizer Development in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Through the keynote speakers, the continent’s largest soil health forum recognised the opportunities that regional cooperation, coordination, and harmonisation of fertiliser policies and regulations can bring. The leaders acknowledged that the recent global fertiliser crisis has disproportionately affected Africa, with a year-on-year decline of 25 per cent in fertiliser consumption in 2022.

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Moussa Faki Mahamat, was deeply concerned that since the adoption of the Abuja Declaration 17 years ago at the first summit in 2006, fertiliser consumption across the continent has only increased from an average of 8kg / ha to about 18kg / ha, which is less than half of the target of 50kg / ha set in the declaration.

“Africa is experiencing accelerated soil degradation in many ways, including through desertification and extreme weather events like floods as we are currently seeing in Kenya and Tanzania and across East Africa. Climate change is contributing immensely to reduced agricultural productivity in Africa,” regretted Mahamat.

He said the current pace of soil degradation in Africa has reached a threshold that requires urgent and proactive attention and action from all to halt the degradation and commence effective soil health management.

“The Africa Union Commission is committed to addressing the issues of soil health in all African countries. This determination is what led us to develop the Soil Initiative for Africa (SIA) and the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan. While the Soil Initiative for Africa is a long-term framework aligned with our Agenda 2063, the Action Plan is the 10-year implementation plan,” said Mahamat.

The leaders also endorsed the Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan and the Soil Initiative for Africa Framework as key guiding documents to harness multi-stakeholder partnerships and investments to drive policies, finance, research and development, markets, and capacity building for fertiliser and sustainable soil health management in Africa.

Commitment to soil science and research

President William Ruto of Kenya called for pooling of investments to increase the capacity of countries and the continent to produce fertilisers, coupled with collaborative research and development, capacity building, as well as cross-country learning and sharing of best practices.

“These documents aim to harness multi-stakeholder partnerships and investments to drive policies, finance, research and development, markets, and capacity building for fertiliser and sustainable soil health management in Africa,” President Ruto said of the Nairobi Declaration.

President Ruto hailed the summit, saying it was timely because Africa is regrettably reliant on food imports, highlighting the limited progress made after the Abuja Declaration 17 years ago.

“We have many issues to reflect on and resolve as a matter of urgency and this summit offers a perfect opportunity for this engagement. African farmers face many problems, including degraded soils, inadequate fertiliser application and extreme weather events like ongoing floods in eastern Africa and droughts in southern Africa. This disrupts agricultural production, despite the huge agricultural potential of the continent,” said Ruto.

He said this should not be the case considering Africa has over 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land. Ruto called upon fellow heads of State to join hands and explore the immense agricultural potential, which is key to the economic performance and growth of the continent.

Other presidents also spoke, with President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia stressing the urgent need for African presidents to pay attention to the effects of climate change, even as the continent focuses on soil health and fertiliser.

“Drawbacks of extreme climate events like floods on soil health should also concern us. It’s ironic that as Eastern Africa is experiencing floods, we in southern Africa are experiencing droughts,” said President Hichilema.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe underscored the need to deliberately support and increase investment in agricultural initiatives by women and youth. The importance of using fertilisers that are crop-specific because each crop is unique and extracts nutrients from the soil at different levels must also be reiterated, according to President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi.

Operationalising fertiliser financing mechanism

The leaders committed to reversing land degradation and restoring soil health on at least 30 per cent of degraded soil by 2034 through the deployment of innovative incentive mechanisms, including repurposing current fertiliser subsidy programs.

“We commit to promoting integrated soil and water conservation, planning, and management practices across agricultural sub-sectors and landscapes. We also agree to promote investments in irrigation as part of integrated soil and water resource management for enhancing nutrient-use efficiency and climate change resilience,” reads the Nairobi Declaration in part.

The declaration also commits the presidents to strengthening national, regional, and international collaborative research and extension systems to tackle soil health challenges and improve the quality of support to smallholder farmers practicing organic agriculture.

Discussions about financing fertilisers also took place, considering affordable fertiliser to farmers remains a major challenge across the continent hence the dismal uptake of the soil conditioner and widespread poor yields.

The leaders committed to fully operationalising the Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM) to improve the production, procurement, and distribution of organic and inorganic fertilisers and soil health interventions.

“We commit to creating a multi-source soil health fund, for research, innovation, capacity building, and start-ups on fertiliser use and soil health actions. The fund to be part of the already existing Africa Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM), which is hosted by the African Development Bank (AfDB),” reads the Nairobi Declaration.

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