‘Zimbabwe to become Africa’s fertiliser production hub’

Zimbabwe is set to be an African hub of fertiliser production, research and training after the African Union Summit resolved to rejuvenate and capacitate the African Centre for Fertiliser Development in Harare, President Mnangagwa has said.

The centre was set up in Harare by the continental body in the 1980s to boost research, training and production, but has been dormant. It established in Zimbabwe through an AU protocol to train, provide technological transfer, support research and demonstrate the role of fertiliser to improve agriculture and fertiliser management practices.

It also seeks to provide support to the fertiliser sector in Africa and coordinate projects at national, regional and international levels in the adaptation, testing and demonstration of improved fertiliser production.

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe stood to benefit immensely from the rejuvenation of the continental centre.

He was speaking in an interview with Zimbabwean journalists at the conclusion of the African Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit in Nairobi last week. The summit drew Heads of State and Government from the continent.

African leaders resolved to fully use the centre in Zimbabwe to stop dependence on the global North, from where the continent is importing the bulk of its fertiliser, spending billions of US dollars in the process.

Said the President: “It has been there. It was an AU decision a long time back.

“It has been dormant, in my view, but now the rest of Africa has realised that it is necessary to capacitate it, that is to provide funding from the AU to make sure that it provides services for which it was created and I am happy that we host the continental centre.”

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe, just like other African countries, has been lagging behind in terms of optimum fertiliser use and soil management.

“We are behind, as I was listening to what is required, we always thought that application of fertiliser is normal, year after year. It is not like that, the soil itself gets aged, fertiliser cannot continue to be the same, it must continue to be improved, depending on the climate and soil of a particular region.

“This is what we are learning and fortunately Zimbabwe is the centre for the continent, as a fertiliser centre, and now we are going to give more focus to make sure we recruit the expertise in that field to ensure that our centre delivers for the purpose which it was set up.”

The President described the summit, which ended last Thursday, as an eye -opener.

“This summit brought together Heads of State and Government primarily to deal with the question of agriculture, and, in particular, we now realise that soil requires attention.

“We have always thought that soil is soil, But we now realise that it has to be treated like individuals, like persons; this is what the conference was all about, to rejuvenate our soils so that they continue to give us better yields.

“Yes, of course, in the past, people in many countries used fertiliser and so on, but it goes beyond just using fertiliser; we are now told that it requires health attention like human beings.

“This is an eye opener and fortunately we had our Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka. I am sure he has benefited from the presentations that were made.”

Addressing Heads of State and Government, President Mnangagwa welcomed the decision to revamp the centre, which he described as a critical cog in promoting research on soil health and fertiliser development.

“We, thus, welcome the commitment to fully operationalise and support the Africa Centre for Fertiliser Development, which was the brainchild of our august body and whose strategic mandate is aligned with the agenda of this summit,” he said.

African Union Commission chairperson Mr Moussa Faki Mahamat said it was sad that the continent continued to import fertiliser, yet it had a centre in Zimbabwe which was not being fully used.

“Regarding fertiliser, it constitutes a critical input for productivity if properly used. In terms of fertiliser use, Africa is below the global average, hence the meeting in Abuja which set 50kg per hectare per year. Some African countries produce fertiliser but we depend mostly on imported fertiliser, making it very expensive for our farmers yet the African Centre for Fertiliser Development based in Zimbabwe has been in existence since the 1980s.

“We must optimise use of such existing continental assets to boost local fertiliser production and deliver to our farmers at affordable prices,” he said.

“This is imperative if we are to improve the continent’s agricultural sector, which is key for our sovereignty and security.”

In an interview, Minister Masuka said one of the summit’s resolutions was a declaration to integrate the centre, which is a fertiliser co-ordination mechanism platform, to become one of the AU organs.

“You remember in 1981 (the then) Organisation of African Unity established a fertiliser co-ordination mechanism at continental level, the Africa Centre for Fertiliser Development, which Zimbabwe proudly hosted.

“Eight countries have ratified, 33 countries have signed for it but it is not functioning as a continental institution and one of the declarations coming out of this conference is the full integration of this Pan-African institution into the main AU body, so that it can deliver the necessary research and development, also the capacitation that is required to ensure sustainable increase in the use of organic and inorganic fertiliser and the use of soil health,” said Minister Masuka.

The summit, which ran under the theme “Listen to the Land”, had outcomes that include a 10-year action plan to deliver concrete action for steps to be taken by African leaders and stakeholders.

The action plan will focus on new policies and investments that will enable farmers to work towards re-building soil health and ultimately increase yield responses and profitability.

The summit came after the first held in 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria, which endorsed the Abuja Declaration on Fertiliser for the Africa Green Revolution, a continental strategy to reverse the trend of poor productivity of African soils.