How digital technology is helping African smallholder farmers access best fertilizer practices

Africa’s 33 million smallholder farmers need to triple fertilizer use on the continent over the next decade to double agricultural production and meet growing demand for more nutritious fruits and vegetables.

The 2006 Abuja Declaration on Fertilizers for the Green Revolution in Africa highlighted the urgent need for Africa to increase fertilizer use. However, fertilizer consumption has only increased from an average of 8 kg/ha to about 18 kg/ha by 2022, less than half of the 50 kg/ha target set in the declaration.

African members of the Association of International Agricultural Research and Development Centers (AIRCA), of which the Center for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI) is a member, agree that greater use of data and digital tools can increase fertilizer use to improve soil quality and food security.

At CABI, we recognise the power of partnerships, and this was recently underlined when we won the FAO Partnership Award 2024 in recognition of our effective partnerships that contribute to achieving sustainable development around the world.

Harness the power of data and digital tools

I believe that the solution to improving soil quality and food security lies in the need, in partnership, to harness the power of data and digital tools so that smallholder farmers can have the best information and advice on how to use fertilizers sustainably as part of an Integrated Crop Management (ICM) approach to agriculture.

Integrated crop management (ICM) is a sustainable agricultural production system that improves overall crop health with minimal impact on the environment. A system like ICM can be an important component of an integrated landscape management (ILM) approach.

An ILM approach refers to long-term collaboration between diverse stakeholders to foster the resilience of natural resources at the landscape scale.

Through careful participatory planning and adaptive strategies involving all stakeholders, ILM ensures resilience to environmental challenges while promoting harmonious coexistence between nature and human activities.

Indeed, the African Soil and Fertilizer Health Action Plan and the Africa Soil Initiative Framework, which set out plans to create healthy soils, stipulate that food production should be carried out with less impact on the environment already affected by ecosystem degradation and erosion exacerbated by the impacts of climate change.

We need to understand, collectively, that these strategies must include crop rotation, no-till practices, diligent use of organic and commercial fertilizers, and better water management. And this is where digital data can play an important role.

At CABI, we recognize the value of soil data. At the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit, we highlighted a CABI study of national soil information systems (SIS) in seven African countries, as well as the United States, New Zealand and Australia.

The challenge of more efficient use of fertilizers

CABI hosted a side event at the summit, titled “Strengthening National Soil Information Systems – A Framework for Designing Sustainable SIS Interventions.”

We discussed how investments in data generation and infrastructure have led to significant improvements in soil health and farmer livelihoods. Improving soil health data can help address the challenge of using fertilizers more efficiently.

Investments in data generation and infrastructure have enabled great strides towards improving soil health and farmer livelihoods.

And while the value of these assets and technologies is well recognized by soil experts, there is a need to encourage greater intentionality and efficiency in the development of data assets, and to be more responsive and adaptable to local demand for soil information.

CABI has seen, through its work on the Optimizing Fertilizer Recommendations for Africa (OFRA) project, coordinated by CABI and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the value of innovative tools to help farmers maximize their profits from fertilizer investments.

The project, which aimed to empower 50 million African families in 13 countries, created innovations, such as the Fertilizer Optimization Tool and the Fertilizer Calibration Tool, to make the most effective and efficient use of fertilizers in agricultural production.

The Fertilizer Optimization Tool helps farmers optimize their fertilizer use. For example, it optimizes the different functions of crop nutrients and allocates available funds to the crop nutrient rate options that are likely to generate the most profit. The Fertilizer Calibration Tool ensures the correct means and application rate for fertilizer, manure, or other inputs.

Integrated soil fertility management

In addition, the African Soil Health Consortium (ASHC), a programme managed by CABI, has raised awareness of an Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) approach that advocates effective and efficient use of fertilizers, organic inputs and improved seeds.

ASHC has created partnerships that have developed campaign-based, multimedia approaches to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farming households through improved access to practical ISFM information.

The African Union has committed to making available to at least 70% of smallholder farmers on the continent, by 2034, targeted agronomic recommendations for specific crops, soils and climatic conditions for greater efficiency and sustainable use of fertilizers.

I understand that this commitment cannot be achieved through data and digital tools alone, which is why, as stated in the Nairobi Declaration, we must also operationalize the African Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM) to improve the production, supply and distribution of organic and inorganic fertilizers, as well as soil health interventions.

Fertilizer use must be sustainable and responsible

As stated in the Nairobi Declaration, we need to develop and promote systematic national capacity building in locally relevant fertilizer and soil health management practices and technologies.

This can be achieved by creating regional research and development networks for the exchange of knowledge and technologies as well as by building, strengthening and standardizing fertilizer analysis capacities and services of laboratories.

Fertilizers have a role to play in a more sustainable agricultural sector in Africa, but time is running out for the need to use more of them to increase production. However, we recognize that fertilizer use must also be sustainable and responsible.

There is a need to find a balance between using fertilizers in proportion and avoiding using too much where it can kill the plant or contribute to climate change by increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in the environment.

One such approach could be to combine chemical fertilizers with more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as biofertilizers, which, once applied to seeds, roots or soil, mobilize nutrient availability through their biological activity and help to strengthen the microflora and, therefore, the general health of the soil.

Regardless, now is the time to embrace increased use of data and digital tools to help triple the equitable, responsible and proportionate use of fertilizers for healthier soils and improved food security on the continent, and the time to act is now.