Feeding the rapidly growing world population is a complex and challenging undertaking. Today, almost 11 percent of the world’s 7 billion people lack access to sufficient and affordable food. By 2050, this challenge will have markedly intensified: the population will have grown to 9 billion people, while the global middle class will have expanded to such an extent that it is expected to lead to a 76 percent increase in meat consumption. Meanwhile agriculture will face strong competition for factors of production such as land and water because of greater urban and industrial demand. According to the FAO, if we are to address this growing demand, global food production must increase by 70 percent. This is a daunting challenge, and to meet it in a sustainable fashion, we need to improve dramatically how, and where, we produce the planet’s food.
Africa, and specifically African businesses, have a major role to play in resolving this issue and charting a way forward. The scale of the continent’s agricultural potential is enormous: while two-thirds of the world’s available arable land is located here, less than a third is actually under cultivation, and agricultural yields are far lower than the global average. Ensuring global food security over the coming couple of decades therefore cannot be achieved without expanding and intensifying African agriculture.
Africa’s agricultural businesses are in a position to spearhead the continent’s effort to support the emergence of a more robust, resilient and sustainable global food chain. In particular, by speeding up the deployment of modern agricultural production techniques, allowing for reliable and affordable access to appropriate farming inputs and services, and ensuring that agricultural outputs find their way to markets, African agribusinesses can play an important role in helping the continent’s farmers fully embrace this opportunity.
Obviously, agribusinesses and farmers cannot act alone and it is mandatory that they benefit from better water management strategies, improved infrastructure, more robust supply chains, and smart agricultural development policies. However, there is a lot that agribusinesses and farmers can achieve together in terms of improved agricultural output. For instance, African fertilizer use is at a level far below what is required to intensify production: on average, farmers in sub-Saharan Africa use 10 times less fertilizer than in Europe, and 30 times less than their East-Asian counterparts do.
In addition, more often than not, limited farmer knowledge about fertilizers leads them to using the wrong fertilizer for their soils and crops. Finally, high-selling prices, distribution shortcomings and unavailability of financing support limit the capacity of farmers to access fertilizers. There is therefore a lot of room for African agribusiness companies to strengthen farmers and ensure they have access to the right fertilizer mixes for their specific crops and soils, at the right time, at a price they can afford, and with the relevant support to make sure they are used properly.
As one of the Africa’s – and the world’s - leading fertilizer companies, OCP intends to actively participate in this effort to bolster African agriculture. Two weeks ago, OCP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Guinea to supply the country with phosphate fertilizers adapted to the needs of local soils and crops. Under the agreement, OCP intends to supply the Guinean government with 100 000 tons of phosphate fertilizer in 2017. The aim is to accelerate agricultural development in the republic, by encouraging rational fertilization of agricultural lands, as well as strengthening technical cooperation with the farmers there. This is a centrepiece of Guinea’s agriculture strategy and our ambition is to enable the government to supply all of the country’s fertilizer needs.
Guinea is only one of the most recent examples of where we have partnered with African governments to strengthen farmers and the agriculture sector. Last November, we signed a partnership with Ethiopia to build a $3.7 bn world-class platform to produce fertilizers that will improve Ethiopian and East African farmers’ access to affordable fertilizer adapted to their soil and crop needs. Later, in December, OCP committed to build another platform in Nigeria with local partners - a project that will produce a million tons of fertilizer in Nigeria for Nigerian and other African farmers by 2018. We believe that it is through concrete initiatives such as these that African businesses can support the continent’s farmers and better meet the world’s food needs.
OCP understands both the potential for the continent to help address the global food supply challenge, and the fact that the best way to do so is by partnering with those closest to the ground so that it can be done most effectively and efficiently. At the heart of this approach is the belief that supporting African farmers themselves is the most critical factor in helping the continent grow its agricultural output. Africa’s smallholder farmers, women and men, are one of the continent’s most valuable resources. It is high time that we play our role in helping them achieve their potential.
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