Increasing global fertilizer prices fuel food crisis in Africa ─Report

*Soaring world fertilizer prices are adding to worries about food security across the sub-Saharan Africa, where smallholder farmers depend largely on imports, and over 20 million consumers already on the brink of famine, says World Food Programme

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

A recent increase in world fertilizer prices is reportedly adding to worries about food security across the sub-Saharan Africa, where Smallholder Farmers (SHFs) depend largely on imports if they even use additional nutrients at all.

ConsumerConnect learnt in regard to the prices tripling over the past 18 months, several farmers are considering whether to forgo purchases of fertilizers in the farming this year, agency report said.

Farmers applying fertilizer   Photo: BusinessAmLive

Sebastian Nduva, Programme Manager at researcher group AfricaFertilizer.Org, was quoted to have stated that the scenario leaves a market long touted for its growth potential set to shrink by almost a third.

Nduva noted that could potentially curb cereals output by 30 million tonnes, enough to feed 100 million consumers.

The Programme Manager also said: “We are likely to see a scenario where yields are depressed and this will mean that either the government will have to readjust their budgets and import food or there will be food shortages,” Nduva said.

Report further indicates the sub-Saharan Africa already has the world’s lowest fertilizer application rates, averaging 12 kilograms per hectare, compared with global average of 110 kilograms.

With usage set to fall as input costs rise, the threat to regional food security and political stability is growing, according to agriculture experts.

Similarly, the World Food Programme (WFP) observed this situation would increase the region’s dependence on imports at a time when food prices are near a record high.

According to WFP, over 20 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa are already on the brink of famine.

Soaring gas prices helped drive fertilizers prices higher in 2021, squeezing supply as increasingly costs shuttered plants while producers introduced export restrictions, report stated.