AfricaFertilizer, along with its donors and technical partners, has announced the commencement of the 2024 Fertilizer Technical Working Group (FTWG) meetings across 18 countries in Africa. These meetings bring together key stakeholders in the national fertilizer supply chains to collate, analyze, and validate fertilizer statistics, facilitating data-driven decisions to enhance food systems across the continent.
The meetings, scheduled from March to November, will involve fertilizer value chain actors from various sectors, including Ghana, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Zambia, Burundi, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria.
Access to high-quality and timely fertilizer statistics is crucial for policy and business decision-making in the agricultural sector. AfricaFertilizer’s FTWG activities aim to address this need by filling the gap and providing industry actors with the necessary information.
Mr. Sebastian Nduva, the AfricaFertilizer Lead, emphasized the collaborative efforts with partners to illuminate fertilizer markets in African countries. Through FTWG meetings and other platforms, AfricaFertilizer aims to equip industry actors with the tools needed for strategic planning to drive food systems in Africa.
With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, AfricaFertilizer has partnered with Development Gateway to develop dashboards for visualizing fertilizer statistics in several African countries. These dashboards enable stakeholders to access validated statistics conveniently and at no cost.
Mr. Ousmane Kone, VIFAA Program Manager at Development Gateway, highlighted the importance of trustworthy data in revolutionizing the fertilizer industry in sub-Saharan Africa, enhancing decision-making processes, and promoting agricultural development.
Dr. Innocent Okuku, Executive Secretary of WAFA, praised the valuable data generated through FTWG meetings, emphasizing its significance for businesses in planning and identifying opportunities in the fertilizer market.
In 2023, AfricaFertilizer successfully held FTWG meetings for 17 countries, validating fertilizer data with national stakeholders. The outcomes were widely disseminated to guide investments, policies, and business decisions.
Looking ahead, AfricaFertilizer aims to enhance its services by securing more funding and fostering collaborative partnerships to address existing data gaps hindering industry efforts and unlock the agricultural potential across the continent.
