Eight years ago, African heads of state gathered in Nigeria to sign the now historic Abuja Declaration on Fertilizer Use for an African Green Revolution. Pledged in the declaration was the dedication of Governments and Heads of States to unite to increase fertilizer users and usage in the continent.

In 2012,  in support of this pledge, theAfrican Fertilizer and Agribusiness PArtnership was created to strengthen the fertilizer vlaue chain and engaage the private and public sectors in an effort to increase the use of fertilizer among smallholder farmers. Weknew that any feasible, sustainable plan would have to include a partnership and regular conversation between many sectors- private sector, public sector, NGO’s, farmer based based organisations and many others along the fertilizer value chain.

Through our funding mechanism, the Agribusiness Partnership Contract, AFAP has laid the groundwork and set in motion sustainable fertilizer markets capable of providing African smallholders with incentive, initiative and capability to improve crop production and food security.

Through our initial three gateway countries, AFAP strategically links with agribusinesses in the southern, eastern and western regions and is moving towards reaching the goal of increasing not only the use of fertilizer, but cementing improvements in the commercial delivery of fertilizer.

It is therefore with great pleasure that I introduce our first e-Newsletter, which will be a snippet of some activities conducted by AFAP in the past year.

–  Jason Scarpone