AFDB TO BOOST AFRICAN FERTILISER MANUFACTURING
ABIDJAN - The Africa Fertiliser Financing Mechanism’s (AFFM) Governing Council has committed to mobilise funds to implement the AFFM’s Strategic Plan 2022 - 2028 to support the increased availability and appropriate use of fertiliser on the continent.
Beth Dunford, African Development Bank Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development, said AFFM is one of the important vehicles for achieving the Bank’s Feed Africa Strategy objectives.
“It is no surprise that AFFM has been instrumental in supporting the implementation of the bank’s African Emergency Food Production Facility. I’m proud to say that the bank has mobilised our agriculture expertise to roll out facility programmes in 24 African countries.”
Eleven institutional members of the Governing Council participated in a hybrid meeting hosted at the Bank’s Abidjan headquarters on March 17 2023.
They were the African Union Commission; Food and Agricul
The processes of sustainable production, distribution, use and management of fertilisers and soil health are critical for the transformation of African agriculture.
ture Organisation; International Fertiliser Development Centre; the African Export and Import Bank; Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa; International Fertiliser Association; the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation; the Pan African Farmers Organisation; Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture; the
African Development Bank; and the AFFM Secretariat.
The AFFM strategic plan 2022-2028 prioritises broadening access to finance through capital investments and policy reforms. Technical assistance will also be provided to boost smallholder farmers’ access and appropriate fertiliser use.
Ahead of the 2023 Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit (AFSH), scheduled for June and July 2023 in Dakar, Senegal, Josefa Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment and chair of the AFFM Governing Council, said that AFFM must be strengthened to support the implementation of decisions that will emerge from the summit.
Janet Ademe, Head of Rural Development Division at the African Union Commission, spoke on Sacko’s behalf.
The processes of sustainable production, distribution, use and management of fertilisers and soil health are critical for the transformation of African agriculture.
All of these call for AFFM to undertake its function to avail appropriate financing instruments, which will allow the private sector to invest, and for our farmers to have access and appropriately use this important input in African agriculture.