ECOWAS: Lomé to host a major meeting on soil fertility and fertilizer use in two weeks

Agriculture
Monday, 15 May 2023 14:43
ECOWAS: Lomé to host a major meeting on soil fertility and fertilizer use in two weeks

(Togo First) - On May 30 and 31, ECOWAS ministers will hold, in Lomé, a meeting on fertilizers and soil fertility. The meeting is organized by the ECOWAS Commission, and backed by the World Bank, the International Fertilizer Development Center, USAID, and the Togolese government. 

The upcoming roundtable will provide a platform for participants to deliberate on the recommendations put forth during the sub-regional consultations held from April 25 to 27. The consultations involved stakeholders from the private and public sectors, as well as civil society, who offered suggestions for enhancing soil fertility and agricultural productivity in West Africa.

According to the ECOWAS, despite the progress recorded in the past decade, agricultural productivity and production in the region are still insufficient. "Fertilizer use is still at low levels, far from the adopted targets of 50 kg of nutrients per hectare,"  the regional organization notes, adding that the situation induces "a significant recourse to food imports, the continuous increase since 2010 of the fringe of populations affected by food insecurity and hunger."

Togo, however, has been taking several steps to tackle the issue and meet the demand for fertilizers. For the ongoing campaign, for example, the country obtained 34,000 tons of fertilizers for local farmers, and CFA2.5 billion worth of fertilizers from Japan (a donation).

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Translated from French by Schadrac Akinocho

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