West African bloc launches hub to boost soil health
NAIROBI. –The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) late Wednesday launched a fertilizer and soil health hub to enhance productivity of arable land in West Africa and the Sahel region.
Alain Traore, the director for agriculture and rural development at ECOWAS, said the hub is expected to promote sustainable agricultural practices by facilitating the delivery of agronomic gains through efficient resource use.
“The hub is expected to contribute to the sustainable transformation of smallholder agriculture for food security, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability,” Traore said during the launch of the hub on the sidelines of Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.
He said the hub is designed to enhance climate resilience and the adoption of best practices in soil health management to help improve yields and profitability of smallholder farming across the West African region.
Technical officials at the hub were expected to focus on information dissemination, capacity development, and policy support and resource mobilization, Traore said.
Katie Freeman, senior agriculture economist at the World Bank, said the lender is supporting the hub since it offers a roadmap to increasing agricultural productivity in the whole of Africa.
The World Bank had donated US$10 million through the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa project to manage the hub for five years, Freeman said.
Part of the funding will be used to improve soil mapping in all the ECOWAS countries, besides improving soil nutrients, she said.
Simeon Ehui, the director general of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), said the hub will serve as an example for promoting sustainable land management in Africa.
The hub will be headquartered at the IITA campus in Ibadan, Nigeria, with a subsidiary hub at the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic in Ben Guerir, Morocco.
Organised by the African Union (AU), the African Summit on Fertilizers and Soil Healt was held under the theme “Listen to the Land”.
It aimed to address soil health, fertilizer use, and sustainable agricultural practices across the continent.
It involved discussions among various stakeholders, including policymakers, scientists, farmers and private-sector representatives, to find long-term solutions to food and nutrition deficiencies in Africa, said the African Union in a press release.
Key topics included soil nutrient management, climate change impact, regenerative practices, and the implementation of previous commitments made by African leaders to boost agricultural productivity.
The event will reviewed the Nairobi Declaration, which was due to be adopted by Heads of State and Government
The declaration aims to outline commitments and strategies to address soil health, fertilizer use, and sustainable agricultural practices in Africa.
This includes a 10-year Fertilizer Action Plan that is set to be formulated as part of the outcomes of the AFSH summit. According to the press release, this plan “will mark a pivotal stride towards a green revolution across Africa, laying the groundwork for an agricultural renaissance.”
In his opening remarks, Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, said the continent was experiencing accelerated soil degradation, including through desertification and floods, often alternatively either droughts or floods which in turn reduced the production and productivity of the African agricultural sector.
“What is clear is that Africa’s agricultural production capacity falls way below global norms. Equally important are the causes of soil health degradation on the continent,” said the AU chairperson.
The commission was committed to address the issues of soil health in all African countries. – Xinhua-Agencies