In a recent CNBC Africa segment, IFDC President and CEO Henk van Duijn discussed the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan, a comprehensive initiative to boost soil health, increase fertilizer use, and promote sustainable agriculture across Africa. The plan, developed in collaboration with the African Union and other stakeholders, aims to address critical agricultural challenges on the continent, including soil degradation, fertilizer accessibility, and food security.
During the conversation, Henk outlined IFDC’s role in supporting African countries to translate this ambitious action plan into national agricultural investment plans. He also highlighted IFDC’s ongoing work with governments, private sector partners, and local communities to create resilient, productive agricultural systems that prioritize environmental stewardship and farmer empowerment.
Access the full transcript below.
Full Transcript
CNBC Host: Welcome to this special segment of “Focusing on the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan.” Now, Africa’s agriculture sector holds vast potential for growth and transformation, but one major obstacle stands in the way: that’s soil health. Decades of [neglect] have led to lower soil fertility, slow crop yields, and undermining food security.
Now, to address this challenge, the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan was launched, aiming to improve soil health, increase fertilizer use, and promote sustainable agriculture practices. This comprehensive plan brings together governments, private sector players, and international organizations to track the complex issues surrounding soil fertility.
Now, to better understand this, I spoke with Henk van Duijn about the action plan’s key objectives, successes, and challenges, exploring how this initiative can transform Africa’s agricultural landscape and ensure a food-secure future for generations to come.
It’s a pleasure to have you at CNBC Africa, and you are here to help us digest a few things here. Let’s begin on the progress on Africa’s fertilizer and what are the challenges that are still standing in there.
Henk van Duijn (HVD): Yeah, thank you for the question. My name is Henk, Henk van Duijn. I’m the President and CEO of the International Fertilizer Development Center, and we were one of the partners to support the African Union to develop the action plan for fertilizer and soil health, which was approved in May in Nairobi during the summit. And due to the fact that it was only approved in May, we’re still early – we’re only four months now into the implementation. The action plan is defined for 10 years, and we are now in the initial stage, together with the African Union, AUDA-NEPAD, but especially with the member states, to work on how do you translate the ambitions we have in the action plan into national agriculture investment plans.
And of course, the action plan is not on its own, so it’s not only that we want to focus on fertilizer and soil health. There are also agriculture production plans which are upcoming and which are already presented by the African Union in the Malabo Declaration of 2014,
and most of the countries are working on that to improve their agriculture productivity and to invest 10 percent of their GDP into infrastructure in agriculture.
So if you ask me the questions Where are we now, what still has to be done? We are in the initial stage to kickstart the translation, but we already started with some good initiatives, especially in West Africa and Southern Africa, where there is now, we established a regional hub of knowledge to ensure that countries have a focal point to go to,
to understand how they can convert the action plan into national agriculture investment plans.
CNBC Host: On your walk of path, we understand that the government can’t manage this on its own, and from where you’re sitting, how can the private sector be encouraged to invest in the fertilizers industry?
HVD: Yeah, that’s a very important question, because Africa, or the continent itself, but most countries on the continent, are dependent on import of fertilizer from abroad, which is expensive. So one of the main challenges we are facing where we are working together with the private sector – the African-based private sector, but also the international private sector – is to see how you can make use of nutrients which are available on the continent itself, or in the country itself, or in the community, and that the additionality of fertilizers from abroad can be brought in, in a cost-efficient way. Because we all know exchange rate is a challenge for most countries, it’s expensive; so for farmers, purchasing fertilizer from abroad is expensive, so how we can accommodate it, it becomes more affordable,
and how we can make use of fertilizers which are, or nutrients which are available in-country. And that’s where the industry is interested in, of course, to sell fertilizer from abroad in Africa, but also to ensure that there is production and use of nutrients available in the continent itself.
CNBC Host: Security is a key player right now that is taking up this space. Is it something we are looking at in terms of, are we safe to say that it is something we can
embrace in the fertilizers industry?
HVD: Yes, so security has two angles. You have safety and the security from, let’s say, terrorist attacks which we saw in West Africa, so transportation is insecure, so that you’re not sure that you get your product at the farm, because transportation is under threat. And on the other hand, you have security from a perspective of, did you get the right product, or the genuine product you purchased, so as a farmer, did you really get what is on the bag?
And that’s a major challenge, so we have to validate and to certify the product which will be sold by agro-input dealers – and that’s one of the topics which is mentioned also in the action plan, to ensure that the quality which is purchased is the quality which is guaranteed and delivered. That’s in the interest of the fertilizer industry, but it’s also in the interest of the farmer, so that the farmer, if he pays for the product he buys, knows that he has the guarantee that he will make that increase of productivity with the product he buys as fertilizer. But it’s not only fertilizer as a whole, because in the end, you have to look at the whole farming system, where you have to think about soil health and restoring soil health to ensure that the fertilizer bought is effective at the farm level.
CNBC Host: The small-sized businesses, or even the large ones – just before we walked into the interview, were speaking on even how the larger enterprises are having challenges to access these fertilizers. What innovations are in place, and are there any investments that are being made to the small-scale businesses that are starting up?
HVD: Yeah, that’s a very important question, because if you really want to improve food productivity in every country in Africa, access to nutrients and access to fertilizer is important. But what is also important is the fact that, do you know what the quality of your soil is at the moment, at your farm? Because if you have acidic soils, which are too acid, even when you add fertilizer, it will not be effective. So that’s one.
Then second is, how do you stimulate, as government, that farmers have access to affordable fertilizer? And that’s based on subsidy schemes or e-vouchers in some countries, that farmers know that the product they are buying is affordable for them, that the agro-input dealer knows what the price is, what he gets, and that the international fertilizer company also knows what they will get when the government purchases their product.
So yes, that’s the value chain, but then investments in-country, like we have here in Rwanda, where Africa-based companies are investing in blending or in producing, is a very good alternative. That relates to what I mentioned earlier, if you want to reduce the import bill in the number of dollars the country has to spend on importing fertilizer, but you can produce it locally, based on your local resources, that’s of course a much better way forward. But that’s not possible in every country, because you need, in the end, the N and the P and the K, to develop your NPK fertilizer.
CNBC Host: As we close this conversation, what impact has IFDC had on the small-scale businesses and on the fertilizers industry? And of course you could dive in with, if there are any policies or initiatives that are coming up.
HVD: IFDC is already on the continent for the last 20-25 years, in quite a number of countries – we’re present in 25 countries in Africa, and what we see is that we work on three different domains. We work on the farm level, where we work with farmers on good agriculture practices, but also on strengthening their farming methodologies, so that they make use of intercropping, not only work with one crop, but that they have more crops, to ensure that the quality of the soil is improving, but also to raise their incomes, and to ensure that they are less dependent on one crop, like maize – and the maize harvest is bad, then they don’t have an alternative. So that’s the first element where we work on.
The second element is related to innovations: bringing in new technologies to ensure that the nutrients available can be used at the farm – that can also be new fertilizer, and then fertilizer which is locally available, organic or non-organic, or even green ammonia is an option.
And then last but not least, if you look at what’s the impact of IFDC with the fertilizer industry, is that we work with the fertilizer industry to produce new or to develop new innovations in fertilizer to ensure that the fertilizer nutrients which are in your fertilizer when you buy it, are coming to the plant as slow as possible, so that the plant makes optimal use of the fertilizer and the nutrients which are available. And that’s of course important for the farmer, small or large, because knowing that your fertilizer is effective and you don’t lose 40 or 60 percent to groundwater or to the soil is a major topic.
If you look at the relevance for the fertilizer industry, is that we have all the discussion about greenhouse gas emissions. Because fertilizer is added to the soil, you have emissions to the air. We are doing quite some research to reduce that and to develop with the industry solutions to ensure that the fertilizer given to the soil is less impacting the environment.
CNBC Host: That concludes our special focus on the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan. As we have seen, this initiative has the potential to explore Africa’s agricultural sector, boosting crop yields, improving food security and empowering farmers. But successful implementation requires positive collective action. As Africa continues on its path toward sustainable agriculture growth, the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan serves as a backbone of hope by prioritizing soil health and sustainable practices. We can unlock the continent’s full agricultural potential, ensuring a bright future for the African farmers, communities, and nations. Thank you very much for joining us.
