Revitalizing Agriculture: The Role of Organic Fertilizers in Empowering Smallholder Farmers in Africa
written by Nora von Wintersdorff, Investment Associate.
Global Supply Chain Disruptions Spark Urgency to Build Stronger, Alternative Agricultural Solutions
Agriculture stands as a cornerstone for GDP growth and poverty alleviation in Africa. Dependency on global supply chains has proven especially detrimental after disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. The latter conflict has rattled the global food system, particularly affecting African nations with soaring prices for essential commodities like food, fuel, and fertilizer. Since the conflict, fertilizer costs have skyrocketed by 200–300%, creating a confirmed deficit of over 2 million metric tons of fertilizer supply in Africa (DW). This sudden stop of access to quality inputs has demonstrated the critical need for resilient local supply chains. Climate change, as well as outdated, harmful agricultural practices have further shown us the importance of looking for alternative solutions.
Revolutionizing African Agriculture: Embracing Regenerative Practices for Sustainable Food Security
Adopting regenerative agricultural practices, including the use of organic fertilizer, has emerged as a way to support a sustainable and safe food supply. This locally produced alternative to synthetic counterparts offers not only economic benefits by generating income avenues for local farmers and producers but also significant environmental advantages. Unlike synthetic fertilizers, which contribute to water pollution and harm marine life, organic fertilizers derived from plant or animal residues promote water and soil quality. It signifies an opportunity for emerging economies to chart a new course — one rooted in regenerative, sustainable agriculture, avoiding the depletive paths of other nations as they ‘developed’ in the past. SMEs and cooperatives hold the key to driving this change, contributing significantly to food security and rural development while paving the way for Africa to emerge as a global leader in sustainable farming practices.
WE4F Program Amplifies Organic Fertilizer Production and Impactful Solutions Across SMEs
The Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) program is an initiative by GIZ that boosts SMEs in water, energy, and food sectors to disseminate innovations for sustainable resource use and increased productivity. Through this program, AlphaMundi Foundation (AMF) supported eight SMEs in scaling their production of organic fertilizers, raising awareness and training smallholder farmers, and providing relevant support services such as soil testing.
“Agriculture and smallholder farmers play a critical part of Africa’s GDP growth and wealth creation,” says Sarah Makena, Climate Investment Advisor to GIZ. “Funding from GIZ through the WE4F project has allowed us to support AMF to quickly provide important early grant capital for organic fertilizer production and training to farmers on how organic fertilizer can grow their production, restore soil and de-risk their income by relying more locally on agri-inputs.”
The AMF grants reached a total of 7,954 farmers who were introduced to regenerative agriculture practices to build climate and supply chain resilience.
Located in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, BioProtect is a production and marketing company for organic inputs based on local natural resources. The company provided training to 35 trainers (35% female) and set up 26 showcase and demonstration sites reaching close to 1,000 potential new users. The grant also financed the development of a new type of fertilizer made from animal bones that are charred and powdered as they are high in phosphorus and calcium. “We’re fortunate to have the support of AMF to scale up our production and education of farmers to realize they have an alternative to chemical fertilizers that are growing in price, and declining in availability,” said Wendwaoga Claude-Arsene Savadogo, BioProtect’s Founder and CEO. “ He describes the partnership as: “We can now match the growing demands of farmers, who are also now better informed on more sustainable, regenerative practices that will protect them from declining soil quality, climate change and geopolitics.”
While some supported SMEs use a simple production model, others developed their unique intellectual property. Take Safi Organics. Based in semi-rural Kenya, the company uses a combination of hardware technology and an internet-of-things real-time control and sensing system to decentralize and downsize the fertilizer production process, making it feasible to implement localized fertilizer production in rural villages using only locally available resources, labor, and waste. The result is a locally produced carbon-negative fertilizer that helps farmers improve yields. Lucy Nderitu, a smallholder farmer who owns 4 acres of land, says Safi Organic’s biochar-based fertilizer has doubled her farm’s yield in just one harvest season.
Navigating Challenges and Promoting Awareness in Africa’s Organic Fertilizer Frontier
Despite projections indicating a nearly 50% growth in the African organic fertilizer market by 2024 compared to 2019 (Mordor Intelligence), obstacles remain. Farmers often lack awareness or harbor skepticism toward organic fertilizers, clinging to familiarity with synthetic alternatives and questioning the efficacy of natural solutions. Consequently, costly sensitization training becomes necessary to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of organic fertilizers. While SMEs supported through the WE4F program made important advancements in organic fertilizer production, the unpredictable nature of weather patterns and climate-related phenomena pose significant challenges for companies and farmers alike. Even AMF encountered this in an attempt to run an efficient 6-months grantmaking program, navigating through shifting planting and harvesting seasons due to rain has proven challenging. Moreover, many companies faced hurdles in sourcing reliable equipment suppliers for scaling up and automating their operations, while others encountered delays stemming from government approvals and access to electricity.
Seizing Growth: Empowering SMEs in Africa’s Organic Fertilizer Revolution
Despite the challenges, all companies supported through GIZ’s WE4F program are experiencing rapid growth in demand for their products and SMEs producing and training on these powerful, cleaner alternatives have the opportunity to capture a nascent, growing market. To do so, they will benefit from extra early support in concessionary funding and R&D capital to provide training and education on proper use and the benefits of alternative products to farmers. Companies also need patient investment capital and progressive supply chains from agri-food brands who appreciate the broader benefits of organic fertilizers, and the detriments of ignoring the greater objectives of long-term resilience and rise of Africa’s farmers.
Towards a sustainable future
Farmers are eager to transition to cheaper, more effective biofertilizers that restore the soil, and regional innovators are rising to meet this demand with solutions tailored to local needs. Africa’s regenerative agriculture path is still early. There are significant opportunities to provide support to the SMEs to scale their efforts in creating a more sustainable future for the continent.
Want to learn more about our work on regenerative agriculture? Visit our website at alphamundifoundation.org
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