A summit of African leaders, farmers and international agriculture experts aimed at tackling soil degradation and food shortages in the world’s poorest continent opened on Friday in Nigeria.
The African Fertiliser Summit, which began in Abuja with a two-day technical session, was being attended by about 500 delegates from across the world, including donor agencies and agriculture ministers.
The theme of the summit, which runs to June 13, is: ”Nourish the soil, feed the continent.”
In his opening remarks, Nigeria’s Agriculture Minister Adamu Bello urged participants to evolve strategies that would boost food production in Africa.
”Africa is lagging behind other continents in agricultural production … and has the largest level of malnutrition in the world,” he said.
He said the summit should develop strategies to improve the lives of African people and help African farmers to increase production.
”An African green revolution can only be possible through the good outcome of your summit,” the minister told participants.
Rosebud Kurwijila of the African Union Commission said the aim of the conference was to ”address the African fertiliser crisis and to build consensus … to make fertiliser affordable in Africa.”
”Africa needs to address this fertiliser crisis in all its ramifications and in an holistic manner,” she added.
Garry Toennissen of the American-based Rockefeller Foundation underlined that ”African farmers have great need for access to fertiliser. Lack of fertiliser causes great soil degradation”.
”This summit is just a beginning. The real impact will be in implementation and Rockefeller Foundation will help in making the impact a reality,” he added.
The summit, an initiative of the AU, is sponsored by more than a dozen international organisations and donor agencies, including the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
It aims to increase awareness on the role that fertiliser can play in stimulating sustainable productivity growth in African agriculture and to discuss fertiliser use by small-scale African farmers. — AFP
