Prof. Victor Chude, Chair of the African Soil Partnership

1. Challenges and Opportunities on Soil Fertility
Management in Africa
By Prof. V. O. Chude - Chairman,
African Soil Partnership
Inception workshop of the project “Capacity
Development on Sustainable Soil Management for
Africa (Rwanda)
Thursday, 28th January 2021

2. Background
● The important role soils play in sustainable human
existence has been established overtime.
● Efforts of platforms such as the Global Soil Partnership
(GSP), Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS),
European Union, Global Soil Laboratory Network
(GLOSOLAN) and the International Code of Conduct for
Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers (the
Fertilizer Code) continually ensures that issues relating to
sustainable soil management are at the fore of efforts
towards agricultural development.

3. ● In Africa, the COVID-19 which continues to cripple activities, re-
emphasized the need to look inwards for sustained growth and
development in the midst of rising challenges.
● How do we harness available resources to ensure that the
region’s growing population has access to sufficient nutritious
food?
● How do we harness available agricultural resources for economic
growth amidst financial crises? These are some pertinent
questions sustainable soil management will answer.

4. Why Soil Fertility Management?
● To increase productivity and reduce hunger
● To increase nutrient density of crops
● To reduce poverty and hunger: The correlation
between degradation, hunger and poverty is very
close
● For climate change adaptation and mitigation
● To achieve a land degradation neutral world
● Preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem
services

5. Challenges of Soil Fertility Management in
Africa
● Soil degradation (Nutrient depletion, erosion,
acidification, salinization, compaction and chemical
pollution)
● Little room for expansion of arable land
● Soil and terrain constraints
● Climate change
● Policy and governance issues
● Legal issues (Land Use and Protection Acts, land
administration service delivery

6. Challenges of Soil Fertility Management in
Rwanda
● Land degradation (Soil erosion; soil fertility decline)
● Inadequate knowledge on proper soil/land use practices
● Poor land management practices (very low fertiliser use)
● Low adoption rate of improved technologies
● Population growth

7. Progress so far…
● Although efforts are being made by national governments,
they are not commensurate with the magnitude of soil-
related challenges in the region.
● An extract from FAO’s publication on “Boosting Soils in
Africa” shows the progress made so far on the 12-
Resolutions made during the “Abuja Declaration on
Fertilizer for the African Green Revolution” targeted at
sustainable soil fertility management.

9. Opportunities on Soil Fertility Management in
Africa
● Direct and indirect contribution to the achievement of several SDG’s in
the region including SDG 1 - No Poverty; SDG - Zero Hunger; SDG 3 -
Good Health and Well Being etc.
● Climate change adaptation and mitigation
● Effective management of land degradation
● Securing land tenure under the Voluntary Guidelines on the
Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in
the Context of National Food Security (VGGT)
● Preservation of soil biodiversity etc.

10. Call to Action
● Improvement in national soil governance across all
levels (formulating favourable policies, creating
enabling environment, adequate funding, high level
dialogue)
● The need to continually act as stewards of the soil
● Promotion of participatory and integrated soil-based
research
● Intensified use of available soil maps
● Sensitization, information dissemination

11. Call to Action Cntd.
● Intensification of stakeholder collaborations
● Establishment of regional soil reference systems
● Develop individual and institutional capacities
on Sustainable Soil Management in Rwanda

12. References
● IFA, FAO 2015. Fertilizer Outlook 2015-2019.
www.fertilizer.org
● FAO - Boosting Africa’s Soils: From the Abuja
Declaration on Fertilizers to a sustainable soil
management framework for food and nutrition security
in Africa by 2030