High yield crops: Regional hub for Fertiliser launched in Ibadan
The ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mrs Massandje Toure-Litse, on Wednesday in Ibadan launched the West Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Hub.
The facility was launched at the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan.
The hub is to address the challenges that threaten food security and economic stability, low fertiliser use and continuous degrading soils in the West African region.
Toure-Litse, in her address, noted that the West African region was blessed with vast natural resources and rich agriculture heritage.
”But it is faced with unprecedented challenges that threaten its food security and economic stability.
“Low fertiliser use and continuous degrading soils are factors that were significantly holding back crop yields in the region,” she pointed out.
The ECOWAS official however said the challenges were posing a direct threat to the livelihood of millions of farmers and the well-being of various communities.
She noted that West African lands were rich with several resources, stating that “its soils not only nourish our people but also can feed the world”.
Toure-Litse said low use of fertiliser was due to either its high cost, limited access to quality fertiliser, lack of farmers’ awareness and education on proper fertiliser use.
“Poor infrastructure for distribution and inadequate government policies are issues hampering the ability of the region to achieve highly agricultural productivity.”
She said this was why in 2006, having recognised the gravity of the region’s agricultural challenges, its leaders convened the first fertiliser summit in Abuja.
“Eighteen years has passed and the progress has been slow, yet current estimates placed fertiliser use in our region at around 20 kilogrammes of nutrients per hectare compared to the global average of more than 100 kilogrammes per hectare.
“This disparity has just called for urgent need for action, as new challenges have emerged compounding the old ones and the urgency of our situation should be addressed.
“With the support of financial and technical partners, efforts to implement, coordinate and monitor the roadmap that address all these issues have began early in October 2023,” the ECOWAS Commissioner said.
She further explained that African leaders, under the leadership of the African Union (AU) Commission, convened another summit in Nairobi, Kenya in May 2024 in response to the challenges.
Toure-Litse said the summit renewed the commitment to increasing productivity, enhanced fertiliser use to improve soil health and encouraged fertiliser use so as to restore degraded soil and boost productivity.
“And, to better ensure its implementation in West Africa and the Sahel, ECOWAS endorsed the Nairobi declaration after adoption.”
She said key recommendations of the roadmap include supporting countries in the region to develop their own action plan for fertiliser and soil health, aligning with the local need and opportunities.
Toure-Litse said the launching of the West African fertiliser and soil health hub was in the context of implementation of the roadmap.
She said the hub would provide countries in the region the necessary technical support to implement respective action-plan through capacity-building and services provision in the area of fertiliser and soil health.
“I am optimistic that the hub will be a cornerstone solution for the regional agricultural challenges,” the ECOWAS Commissioner noted, saying it would help in addressing the problem of high cost of fertiliser, limited access to fertiliser and lack of education among farmers.
She said the roadmap’s significant achievement was made possible through IITA’s technical leadership and the coalition of technical partners, including International Fertiliser Development Centre, African Plant Nutrition Institute, among others.
Toure-Litse further stated that the hub, along with the roadmap and action plan, would provide a powerful framework to achieving the set goal.
“I charge all stakeholders to seize the opportunity and build a more sustainable, secured and prosperous future for the region.
“I urge all the stakeholders, government, financial institutions, technical experts and farmers to work together so that they can turn the tide of food and security in West Africa.”
She assured all the stakeholders of the ECOWAS Commission’s commitment to continuing to play its leadership role to ensure the achievement of secured food security in the region.
“To ensure the success of the initiative we must integrate the voices and needs of farmers, particularly women and youths, because they are the backbone of our agricultural sector.
“We must provide them with training on proper fertiliser application techniques and empower them to make informed decisions about soil management,” the ECOWAS Commissioner said.
In his address, Dr Bernard Vanlauwe, Deputy Director, General Research, IITA, said the hub would provide technical assistance to countries in the region.
He said this would be on what they can do to increase their fertiliser use and the efficiency of fertiliser.
Vanlauwe said activities of the hub would have significant impact on food productivity in the region.
The priorities of the ECOWAS Fertiliser and Soil Health RoadMap for West Africa and Sahel include market information on agricultural inputs and strengthening fertiliser quality control regulations.
Others are improving fertiliser trade within ECOWAS, increasing local production of fertiliser and expanding agricultural inputs distribution networks.
Highlights of the event was the signing ceremony of ECOWAS-IITA Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to implement the ECOWAS Agriculture Policy (ECOWAP) and West Africa Fertiliser Hub.
NAN / Foluke Ibitomi
