Building on over five years of working together, CRU and AFAP have renewed their commitment to combining their strengths to support clients in their understanding Africa’s fertilizer and agribusiness markets and the opportunities presented by Africa’s wealth of natural resources for fertilizer raw materials.
Population growth, low crop yields, and soil degradation have meant that for many years Africa has faced a high food security risk, with many African countries reliant on food imports. To improve crop yields and avert a food crisis, fertilizers will play a vital role. The abundance of arable land for agriculture and the current low fertilizer application rates point to a huge demand potential that is yet to be unlocked.
CRU Group and African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) have built a strategic partnership to provide a better service to clients with an interest in African fertilizer and agribusiness. The two organisations have developed a strong working relationship, combining CRU’s global perspective on fertilizer trends and detailed market data, with AFAP’s deep understanding and close contact with Africa’s fertilizer and agribusiness markets.
“We are excited to renew this strategic partnership. Through joint event collaborations and consultancy projects, CRU and AFAP offer a unique and comprehensive service to participants in the African fertilizer and agribusiness space,” said Jason Scarpone, AFAP’s President and CEO.
Joint Consulting Projects
CRU Consulting, the management consultancy division of CRU, is focussed on providing informed and practical advice to the fertilizer, metals, and mining industries. CRU Consulting helps clients with bespoke research, analysis and strategic advice to help them make more informed and robust decisions in these industries.
CRU and AFAP’s experts are able to deliver joint consultancy projects to provide informed and practical advice to meet the needs of our customers and their stakeholders with an interest in African nitrogen, phosphate, and potash fertilizer markets. Our combined networks, deep understanding of commodity market issues and analytical discipline, and robust forecasting methodologies mean we can assist customers in their decision-making process.
“CRU and AFAP’s consulting collaboration has allowed us to offer a broader range of consulting support from feasibility assessments through to policy support and climate change scenario analysis. We are thrilled to see this unique partnership continue,” explained Josie Armstrong, Principal Consultant at CRU.
CRU and AFAP’s joint solutions in consultancy offer original insight, accurate data, intelligent analysis and timely delivery.
Event Collaborations
CRU and AFAP have produced the Africa Fertilizer Agribusiness conference series. These events offer unrivalled networking opportunities with senior decision-makers from the biggest fertilizer buyers and manufacturers in some of the world’s fastest-growing fertilizer markets. Over five previous editions, this important series has centred discussions on how partnership, investment and innovation can boost fertilizer trade and allow agribusiness to flourish across Africa.
As travel restrictions and social distancing measures remain in place, CRU and AFAP have developed a new virtual platform to continue to keep the international fertilizer industry supplied with the latest information and access to key contacts from across Africa.
“Our attendees will have the opportunity to safely stay connected and informed at a time that it is most important that we maintain the progress that has been made in improving Africa’s fertilizer trade and agribusiness development,” explained Nicola Coslett, CEO of CRU Events
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Note to Editors:
About CRU: Founded in 1969, CRU Group is the leading, independent, global metals, mining and fertilizers analysis, consultancy and conference business. CRU is located in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Pittsburgh, Santiago, New York, Mumbai, Sydney, Tokyo and São Paulo; and is dedicated to providing high-quality analysis and insight to its global customer base. CRU employs more than 220 expert staff, including economists, engineers, metallurgists, geologists and chemists.
For more information visit: www.crugroup.com
About The African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP): AFAP is an independent non-profit organization founded in 2012 by a partnership of African development organizations. It was built on the work of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program (CAADP), a framework for achieving ambitious agriculture development goals set in place by African nations and leaders.
AFAP is a service provider to the private and public sectors on sustainable development projects and policies focused on market-driven business solutions in fertilizer and agribusiness for agriculture productivity. AFAP combines technical expertise with entrepreneurial innovation. AFAP adds value to the fertilizer and agribusiness value chain by building the capacity and linking African Hub-Agrodealers and Smallholder Farmers to global fertilizer and food companies, promoting the use of high quality and affordable balanced crop nutrition products, partnering with technology and equipment providers, and providing trade finance for fixed assets and inventory via the Agribusiness Partnership Contract (APC) mechanism.
AFAP’s public-private partnership strategy is ultimately designed to build the capacity of African fertilizer and agribusiness SMEs, and increase agricultural productivity. The execution of that strategy with partners results in increasing food security, income, job creation, and agriculture contribution to national GDPs.
