By Our Reporter
Kenyan President, William Ruto, has said if African continent must achieve green revolution, use of large scale subsidized fertilizers is imperative adding that African leaders must also assess the current situation across the continent within the broader context of Africa’s potential.
In his opinion over green revolution across Africa, he said Africa should rise up and work towards ensuring affordable, quality and accessible fertiliser through local production.
The Kenyan leader made this submission last weekend in Nairobi while speaking at the African Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit.
He said that Africa has more than 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, indicating that it is operating far below agricultural capacity.
Ruto urged African leaders to entrench production incentives and leverage the African Continental Free Trade Area to improve market access and profitability for farmers.
His words: “Pan –African integration will also provide a basis to harness research, science, and technology to develop a robust African Soil Information System, support a community of soil health experts across various sectors, and enhance research and soil testing facilities to support informed-decision making.”
In this way, he explained, “we will enhance farm productivity and production, and drive our own progress in food security.”
He frowned at heavy dependent of Africa on food imports noting that this necessitated continuation of Africa’s serious food challenges that hamper efforts and investments by African people in improving agricultural productivity.
The president noted that inadequate use of fertilisers, extreme climatic events such as floods and severe droughts, and extensive land degradation, among others, point to the broader issue of poor soil health.