{"id":30661,"date":"2023-06-27T07:01:50","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T07:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2"},"modified":"2023-06-27T08:05:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T08:05:20","slug":"can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2","title":{"rendered":"Can improved access to fertilisers help boost Africa\u2019s agricultural productivity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Liz Kirk, Ngama Munduku<\/b><\/p>\n

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Food price hikes due to spiralling fertiliser and energy prices accompanying the Russia-Ukraine crisis have put this issue centre stage in the past year.<\/p>\n

A key part of the puzzle is smallholders\u2019 relatively low use of quality seed and fertiliser. The average consumption of inorganic fertilisers in Africa stands at around 16kg per hectare of nutrients.<\/p>\n

This compares starkly with an average of 10 times that in South Asia (160 kg per hectare) and over 20 times that in East Asia and the Pacific (331kg per hectare).<\/p>\n

Subsidy regimes that aim to get cheaper seeds and fertiliser to the smallholder farming base have been a popular policy tool on the continent over recent years.<\/p>\n

After falling out of favour in the 1970s and 1980s due to their perceived high-cost, at least eight sub-Saharan countries (Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Ghana) have reintroduced seed and fertiliser subsidy schemes over the last two decades.<\/p>\n

Yet, the impact of seed and fertiliser subsidy models remains contentious, with marked disagreement among agricultural experts and economists around the success of fertiliser and seed subsidies in driving agricultural productivity growth.<\/p>\n

We need to broaden focus, complementing existing policies with additional measures that can achieve the agricultural yield growth that Africa urgently needs. We need to put in place policies that: Invest meaningfully in building smallholders\u2019 knowledge base.<\/p>\n

This means reversing under-investment in agricultural research and building capacity to train farmers in order to get research into use, as Asia-Pacific has done.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Research and training will need to ensure seed and fertilisers are appropriate for the local agronomic zone, crop and soil system, are climate-smart (drought and pest-resilient) and are applied in optimum quantities.<\/p>\n

Focus on increasing market links for smallholder farmers to demonstrate to farmers that the demand is there, and that cash rewards accompany an increased use of seed and fertiliser when yields are increased and quality standards for commercial markets met.<\/p>\n

If we saw just a 20% yield increase in the four primary staple crops in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), this would mean an increase of over 670,000mt of food produced on the continent, which would significantly improve food security. The opportunities are enormous.<\/p>\n

With high food price inflation triggering a crisis of affordability on the continent, we need to broaden our toolbox of responses to sustainably deliver the yield improvements that are so critical for the continent, and which will only become more so.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.theafricareport.com\/295480\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity\/<\/b><\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Liz Kirk, Ngama Munduku Africa-Press – Lesotho. Food price hikes due to spiralling fertiliser and energy prices accompanying the Russia-Ukraine crisis have put this issue centre stage in the past year. A key part of the puzzle is smallholders\u2019 relatively low use of quality seed and fertiliser. The average consumption of inorganic fertilisers in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[242,233,246,245],"class_list":["post-30661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-africa","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nCan improved access to fertilisers help boost Africa\u2019s agricultural productivity? - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Food price hikes due to spiralling fertiliser and energy prices accompanying the Russia-Ukraine crisis have put this iss ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can improved access to fertilisers help boost Africa\u2019s agricultural productivity?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Food price hikes due to spiralling fertiliser and energy prices accompanying the Russia-Ukraine crisis have put this iss ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-27T07:01:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-27T08:05:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1687836760.561552.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"732\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Can improved access to fertilisers help boost Africa\u2019s agricultural productivity?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-27T07:01:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-27T08:05:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2\"},\"wordCount\":432,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/06\/sm_1687836760.561552.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\",\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/can-improved-access-to-fertilisers-help-boost-africas-agricultural-productivity-2\",\"name\":\"Can improved access to fertilisers help boost Africa\u2019s agricultural productivity? 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