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  • Publication | 2024

Knowledge Review - Increasing agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa: the role of fertilisers and soil health

Global Food and Nutrition Security

Highlights:

The thematic focus of this knowledge review is on the role of fertilisers and soil health in increasing local food production. Promoting a greater use of fertilisers is a usual policy response in the aftermath of food crises, as observed in 2008 and more recently in 2022-2023. However, the current food crisis occurs in a different policy context with a stronger focus on sustainable agriculture and climate change mitigation practices which generally suggest a lower use of chemical inputs in intensive farming systems and better use in low-inputs farming systems.

This knowledge review gives an overview on the rational and main challenges for increasing crop production in SSA, and sheds light on the interconnected roles of fertilisers and soil health to boost production. The knowledge review does not discuss other important potential solutions such as improved seeds, irrigation, etc.

48 recent publications -from the UN and International Organisations as well as scientific papers- have been used for this knowledge review. The Knowledge Review consists of analysing, organizing and synthetizing the key knowledge of these publications. It contains three main sections: rationale, challenges and potential solutions to increase crop production.