This article outlines the launch and expected impact of an agricultural support initiative for rural farmers in Uganda called Sustain Africa. The initiative is being implemented by the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) and is being funded by Rabobank, Yara, the Export Trading Group and Syngenta with the support of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA). Sustain Africa is in response to the high increase in agro-input costs in the wake of increasing global inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The current agriculture input crisis
Like many African countries, Uganda faces a price-surge for fertilizer and other agriculture inputs, as the ongoing war in Ukraine exacerbates COVID-19 pandemic’s disruptions to global supply chains. Rise in transport costs, restrictions on trade and fixed assets credit, loss of urban and international remittances into rural farming communities, and a scaling back of non-agricultural supplies (e.g., hardware, school supplies) have also reduced the purchasing power and viability of smallholder farmers and rural wholesale and retail agro-dealers. As the country entered planting season in August, the expected drop in the use of agriculture inputs due to price surges and shortages threatens to severely impact food production, food security and rural livelihoods.
The Sustain Africa initiative for Uganda
To mitigate these challenges, the Sustain Africa initiative has been introduced in Uganda to increase accessibility and affordability to farmers of up to 20,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer. Bags include a balance of planting and top-dressing fertilizers that will be accessible to farmers throughout the season, in traditional retail shops across more than 50 districts.
Sustain Africa is an industry-led initiative, supported by donors providing concessionary funding, coordination, knowledge-sharing, and monitoring and evaluation, to increase effectiveness of the collective response. Current Uganda effort has the Export Trading Group and Syngenta; its design and roll-out have been led by the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership.
Call to Action – support Sustain Africa
Boilerplate
Partnerships – Productivity – Prosperity! These are the foundational pillars of the philosophy and ethos of the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP).
Celebrating its tenth year of service to the African agricultural community, AFAP traces its roots as an organization to the 2006 Africa Fertilizer Summit held in Abuja, Nigeria which was organized by an array of partners working to support the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP). The 2006
Summit begat the 2006 Abuja Declaration on Fertilizers for an African Green Revolution.
Founded in 2012, as an independent nonprofit organization by a partnership of African development organizations, AFAP has since evolved into a dynamic and market leading social enterprise and service provider to an array of clients and partners from the continental and international public and private sectors.
Primarily focused on the design and implementation of sustainable developmental projects that support policy and regulatory reform, capacity development, financial credit provision and data gather and market intelligence development and dissemination, AFAP provides market-driven business solutions in agricultural inputs and agribusiness value chain sectors.
AFAP combines technical expertise, entrepreneurial innovation and a unique, continental perspective derived from its expansive footprint across the continent – with offices in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and its headquarters in South Africa.
Principally AFAP supports the development of the African agriculture inputs and agribusiness value chain by working to build the capacity of the continent’s hub agro-dealers, agro-dealers and smallholder farmers.
Further, AFAP undertakes initiatives to improve the efficiency and capacity of stakeholders involved in the inputs and agricultural output market companies, promoting the use of high quality and affordable balanced crop nutrition products, partnering with technology and equipment providers, and facilitating trade finance for fixed assets and inventory via a proprietary Agribusiness Partnership Contract (APC) mechanism.
The four key areas of activity of AFAP today are:
- Agribusiness and Market Development Services
- Financial Services
- Agri-Inputs and Agribusiness Policy Services
- Market Intelligence Services
Selected partners, funders and clients of AFAP include, but are not limited to: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, the International Fertilizer Development Center, the African Development Bank, the African Union’s Regional Economic Communities SADC and COMESA, the United States Agency for International Development, OCP, Yara, the Norwegian government, and the Swedish government.
