Fertilizer Microdosing on Degraded Soils in Sub-Saharan Africa


Posted on January 18, 2011


Land degradation affects more than half of Africa, leading to a loss of an estimated US$42 billion in income and 5 million hectares of productive land each year. A precision-farming technique called “microdosing” is helping farmers address the problem of soil infertility.


The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a member of CGIAR, has carried out research on land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa, where overuse of soil and low, unpredictable rainfall cause poor levels of food production. Given the risks involved with an unpredictable climate, farmers are not willing to invest in fertilizers to replenish the soil, and consequently soils are depleted, yields and crop quality decline, and hunger and under-nutrition are exacerbated. A vicious cycle is created: unproductive land is left and farmers clear forests to free up new land to plow.


Microdosing involves the application of small, affordable quantities of fertilizer onto the seed at planting time, or a few weeks after emergence. The microdosing technique increases the efficiency of fertilizer use, and helps improve productivity. The method uses about one-tenth of the amount typically used on wheat, and one-twentieth of the amount used on corn in the US. The small dosage needed illustrates just how depleted of nutrients African crops are.


The microdosing method has been introduced to Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa, making fertilizer use a productive and economically viable option for the farmers.


However, there have been constraints to the technique, involving lack of access to fertilizer and credit, insufficient training and lack of supportive policies.
In eastern and southern Africa, ICRISAT is working with private fertilizer companies to identify appropriate fertilizer types and promote the sale of small packets suited to the resource constraints of small-scale farmers.
Working with its partners, ICRISAT hopes to increase the number of farmers using the microdosing technique from 25,000 to 500,000 in the next few years.


For more information on fertilizer microdosing, read the full case study from ICRISAT .

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Promoting Agricultural Growth Corridors in Africa


Posted on June 8, 2009


Africa is the only region in the world where hunger is worsening and per capita food production has stagnated over the last three decades. All research has clearly pointed out the necessity to invest in infrastructure building to unleash Africa’s agricultural potential, as highlighted in Principle 3 of the Farming First plan.


Traditionally, the public sector was called upon for infrastructure development. The private sector can also have an important role to play, as shown by the example of the agricultural growth corridor concept promoted by Yara International SAS , a Norwegian fertilizer company with important operations in Sub-Saharan Africa.


Building on past initiatives promoting a more competitive agricultural sector through more efficient supply chains, the agricultural growth corridor aims at investing in communications routes with existing infrastructure to achieve economies of scale, developing clusters and strengthening input-output markets.


To date infrastructure development in Africa has not been particularly focused on the needs of promoting agricultural value chains. Most African countries have limited port capacity with small shipments that significantly raises the unit import costs of key inputs. There is a lack of larger warehouses at ports or in strategic inland locations to act as key distribution or collection hubs or to facilitate potential adoption of warehouse receipting measures. The limited number of trained rural retailers and limited access to appropriate rural credit compounds impedes farmers to get easy access to their inputs. In addition, the political did not exist to promote intra-regional agricultural trade and market development which combined with weak purchasing & selling power amongst the poor, as compared to commercial farmers, has contributed to a lack of competitiveness of local and regional agricultural markets and has continued the trend of internal consumptive markets, particularly in relation to core staples.


The Agricultural growth corridor initiative particularly focuses on the need to ensure that markets exist for increased output and that farmers have access through ICT to local, regional or or international market analysis.


Public – private partnerships and alliances are necessary to fast track development along a given corridor and at the same time helping to balance issues of scalability, knowledge transfer and market access particularly as they relate to small scale farmers and African entrepreneurs and investors. Government and business leaders will need to proactively work across borders to develop an on-going corridor management process. Public and private resources will need to be aligned to create a policy and investment climate that promotes the scope for such agriculture growth corridor initiatives.


The initial support for the concept of agricultural growth corridors has caused a core working group to be convened to discuss options for fast tracking. Represented by a number of the organisations, it will draft an initial blueprint for action to be presented at the African World Economic Forum in June 2009 .

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