AGRA

Overview of China’s Fertilizer Industry

China is one of the most influential countries in the global fertilizer industry, where it accounts for the largest share of the import and export markets of key fertilizers. However, its manufacture and use of chemical fertilizers is set for reduction as the country targets to peak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

1. Production and application

China accounts for around one-third of the total quantity of fertilizers consumed globally. Currently, nitrogen and phosphate are its most used agricultural fertilizer elements, followed by potassium, albeit at significantly lower quantities.

Production

China is the world’s largest producer of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers. The country is self-sufficient in the resources needed to produce nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers for a relatively solid product pricing basis of the two products, a good portion of which is exported. However, it imports a large portion of its potash, although the country has in the last one decade rapidly grown its mobilization of domestic potash resources to lessen its importation-dependence.

From 2010 to 2015, China’s fertilizer output showed a fluctuating upward trend, peaking at 74.32 million tons in 2015. Impacted by the government’s “Action Plan for Zero Growth of Chemical Fertilizer Use by 2020”, After 2015, the output of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium fertilizers began to show a fluctuating downward trend, dipping over 10% in 2016 and some 11.1% and 8.30% in the next two years, respectively. It climbed 6.1% in 2019, but dropped 0.5% in 2020 to 54.46 million tons.

Application

From 2010 to 2015, the total volume of chemical fertilizer application in China’s agriculture sector increased year-on-year, peaking at 60.23 million tons in 2015. It is at this point that the country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs issued the “Action Plan for Zero Growth of Chemical Fertilizer Use by 2020”, leading to a year-on-year decrease in the next five years. China applied 52.51 million tons of agricultural chemical fertilizer in 2020, a 2.83% decline from the previous year, and a 12.25% reduction from 2016.

Types of main fertilizers produced in China

Proportion structure of the output of major products in China’s fertilizer industry in 2020

China’s chemical fertilizer production mostly consists of nitrogen, phosphate, and potash. From the output perspective, nitrogen dominates the country’s fertilizer production, making up more than 60% of the total production in 2020, followed by phosphate at 18%, and potassium at 13%.

Industrial clusters

Most of China’s fertilizer is produced in the country’s central and northwest regions. In 2020, Qinghai Province led the production of agricultural nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium fertilizers, reaching 5.231 million tons. It was followed by the Hubei and Henan Provinces, which produced 4.943 million tons and 4.892 million tons of agricultural fertilizers, respectively.

2. Exports and Imports

China’s fertilizer imports

Between 2016 and 2020, the import value of China’s fertilizer sector showed a tendency to grow, before falling in the last year. The total value of chemical fertilizers imported into mainland China in 2021 was around 18 billion yuan, or USD 2.57 billion, an 11% decrease from 2020.

In 2021, China imported fertilizer products from 55 different countries and regions, led by Russia, Canada, Belarus, Norway, and Israel. The Russian Federation accounted for the highest share in China’s imports of fertilizer at 28%. The top 10 countries and regions in terms of total dollar value accounted for more than 90% of the imports.

China’s fertilizer exports

The total export value of China’s fertilizer industry from 2017 to 2020 showed fluctuating growth patterns, peaking at 74 billion yuan or USD10.57 billion in 2021, a 63% increase from the previous year. In 2021, China exported its fertilizers to 159 countries and regions, with India and Brazil yielding over 14 billion yuan or USD2 billion each. The two countries accounted for nearly 40% of the total export value.

Source：

The official website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China: http://www.moa.gov.cn/

Gulf Petrochemicals & Chemicals Association (GPCA), China Fertilizer Industry Outlook

International Fertilizer Association (IFA) Market Intelligence Service, Public Summary – Short-Term Fertilizer Outlook 2021-2022

CIRS, Overview of Fertilizer Regulations in China

Zhang Xian, Yang Yi, Zhu Yuhua, Gao Kuo and Jiang Hao, Analysis of “Going Out” Strategy of China’s Fertilizer Industry Based on the Matching of Global Fertilizer Supply and Demand. World Agriculture, 2019(05):84-90.DOI:10.13856/j.cn11-1097/s.2019.05.013.

Forward Research Institute, Report of Produce Market Demand Forecast and Investment Strategy Planning on China Fertilizer Industry (2022-2027)

Agricultural sector stakeholders in Ghana have expressed confidence that a revised Seed Sector Strategy and Investment Plan currently being drafted will boost the country’s agricultural production. 

A four-day meeting opened in Ghana’s capital Accra on Monday with about 60 seed experts from across the country and the sub-region participating, to draft the new strategy. The new strategy will review the National Seed Plan (2015). The National Seed Plan describes the specific actions to be taken to implement the National Seed Policy which was launched in May 2013. The policy recommends actions the country should take to improve the seed system including research and variety development, seed production, seed marketing, seed entrepreneurship, and the regulatory environment, among other areas. 

The meeting dubbed the 3^rd National Seed Forum is under the theme, “Facilitating the Seed Industry through Knowledge, Collaboration and Strategic Planning.” The Seed Sector Strategy and Investment Plan is expected to strengthen Ghana’s seed industry by promoting the adoption and utilization of certified seed by the country’s farmers.

“The Ghana National Seed Council believes that the forum, with various activities over the next four days, will launch a wonderful period of polishing up to accelerate the industry and address the remaining issues, which will complementarily address the needs of our hardworking farmers, agro-industry, and the consuming public,” said Josiah Wobil, Chairman of Ghana’s National Seed Council. 

Regina Richardson, Programs Officer at AGRA told the meeting, “The 3^rd National Seed Forum is being held at an opportune moment when the seed sector needs to consolidate the gains made and develop sustainable models to address constraints inhibiting the growth of the sector.”

Officials from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the National Seed Trade Association of Ghana (NASTAG), The African Seed Access Index (TASAI), and other seed sector stakeholders are participating in the meeting. Kwabena Adu Gyamfi, President of NASTAG observed: “Food has become very relevant in Ghana today looking at the economic issues. Food is driving inflation and we have no business sitting down and not looking at our seed sector.” 

Ghana’s seed sector has grown tremendously in the past few years, with the development and availability of improved and locally adapted seed varieties. However, the adoption is still marginal, with just about 30% of the farmers using the improved varieties. The slow pace of adoption is linked to inadequate compliance with seed legislation by various key seed value chain operators, and the disregard of the rules and procedures of the Seed Certification and Standard Regulations. 

Kwasi Wih who is head of the Ghana Seed Inspection Division of Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate (PPRSD) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said stakeholders will ensure that they take advantage of the forum to help improve the seed industry. “Quality seeds are the pre-requisite to successful agriculture and constitute a major pathway for the achievement of national security goals… There is a need to ensure the widespread availability of quality seeds throughout the country. It’s important that institutions and structures required to support the implementation of a good seed system are streamlined and properly equipped and managed to ensure the seed sector plays its required role in the country’s agricultural transformation,” he said. 

The four-day workshop follows a successful deployment of the Seed Systems Analysis Tool (SeedSAT), to analyze the functioning of eight (8) key thematic areas of the national seed system and make prioritized recommendations for interventions to support a robust seed sector. A communique will be issued at the end of the workshop on the way forward in developing the new strategy. AGRA is leading this effort with the support of the U.S. Government through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), under the Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA) umbrella.

Lily Amber Kenny who is Director of the Economic Growth Office at USAID said Ghana’s farmers can be a breadbasket for all of West Africa with the proper financing resources and tools which include seeds and fertilizers. “Insufficient quantities of certified seeds, foundation seeds, and breeder seeds that drive the supply chain are key constraints affecting the growth and competitiveness of the seed sector,” she observed. “As we enter a new phase of programming with AGRA, this event (3^rd National Seed Forum) is very timely, given the circumstances and the challenges farmers have getting improved seeds and inputs. This gathering gives us the perfect opportunity to review the existing National Seed Plan and support the development of a seed investment plan for Ghana,” she added.

Global food systems have been battered by overlapping crises in recent years. Key among these are the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russo-Ukraine war and extreme weather events resulting from climate change. These have resulted in forced migration, loss of employment, climate stress, loss of biodiversity, and economic instability.

In Africa, which is home to 1.5 billion people, these shocks and stressors have slowed – or even reversed – decades of progress in improving food security and nutrition. For example, 37 million people in the Greater Horn of Africa are facing acute hunger in one of the region’s worst droughts in decades.

These multiple crises have forced the world to recognise that improving nutrition and food security requires more resilient global and national food systems. Food systems are the sum of actors and interactions along the food value chain – from input supply and production to transport, processing, retailing, wholesaling, preparation, consumption and disposal.

As set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG2), the journey towards food and nutritional security for Africa has a clear destination – zero hunger. The target is to ensure access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all people by 2030.

The recently launched Africa Agriculture Status Report examines the continent’s progress towards food and nutritional security.

We co-edited the report, which has six key themes. It charts a roadmap to get to the goal faster while adapting to a changing environment. Our report coincided with World Food Day 2022, whose theme is safer food, better health.

Without transformative change like the Asian Green Revolution, African food systems will continue to impede human development. They will also continue to be overly dependent on food imports. Without a strong drive for sustainable agricultural practices, the continent’s food systems will worsen environmental destruction. Urgent action is needed to anticipate megatrends, rally political will, mobilise investments and strengthen capacity.

Five ways to transform African food systems

The need for true cost accounting

Development practitioners working in Africa need true cost accounting for our food systems. It should explicitly consider all the environmental, social and human health outcomes associated with the way food systems are organised. For example, 74% of agricultural production growth in sub-Saharan Africa since 2000 has been achieved through area expansion and only 26% from increased yields. This is far from ideal. Reliance on area expansion has converted forests and grasslands into cropland on a massive scale. The result has been substantial damage to the region’s stock of natural resources and ecosystem services.

A true cost accounting framework sets out the costs of this approach. It would lead to the recognition that technical innovation is important to improve yields on existing farmland. It would show that this is a more sustainable approach to production growth, better health and improved nutrition.

Anticipate the megatrends

African governments must be prepared for the big demographic, economic, environmental, and social trends shaping the continent’s food systems. These include:

• rapid population growth, associated land scarcity and rapidly rising land prices
• rapidly growing demand for food, driven by rapidly growing urban areas, rising incomes and purchasing power
• more frequent and intense weather disruptions associated with climate change
• global health crises, economic disruptions, and civil conflicts such as the Russo-Ukraine war
• technical innovation in digital agriculture.

Africa’s food systems continue to evolve in response to these drivers. Food policies and investment strategies need to change too. We are chasing a moving target.

Role of leadership

Leadership is essential to harness collective effort, shared responsibility, stakeholder engagement and political will to transform food systems.

Political leaders can either push the accelerator or step on the brakes. The complex nature of our food systems requires that key actors, including national governments, international agencies, civil society, farmer organisations and the private sector, work together towards the common goal.

Governments and regional bodies are at the centre of food systems interventions.

Investment gap

Financing is the fuel needed to accelerate transformation. Based on recent estimates from New Growth International, a network based management consulting firm, food systems transformation in Africa requires up to US$77 billion a year from the public sector and up to US$180 billion from the private sector.

Mobilising financing at scale requires African governments to:

• define priorities
• commit to financing priority actions
• enhance coordination between government and private sector
• ensure good governance and accountability.

Capacities and capabilities

Africa must invest in domestic human, institutional and system-wide capacities and capabilities. Capacity development efforts should be guided by seven core principles: country ownership and leadership; alignment with national needs and priorities; use of national systems and local expertise; no “one-size-fits-all” tactics; multi-level approaches; and mutual accountability.

We also note that even though agricultural research capacity has increased by 90% between 2000 and 2016 there has been a decline in public investment in agricultural research systems. This threatens Africa’s capacity to adapt the latest technologies to local conditions.

Call to action

There’s an urgency to transforming African and global food systems to make them more resilient and sustainable. Failure is not an option.

Transformation will require a coordinated approach from governments, development partners, the private sector and civil society. It is time to put into action the carefully designed strategies, policy reforms and investment plans highlighted in the latest report.

Originally posted on: https://theconversation.com

A drone flies over a rice field in Asutsuare village, Ghana, August 2, 2019.Image: Thomson Reuters Foundation/Kagondu Njagi

In Africa, agriculture means everything, especially for rural communities. It is the main source of livelihood for many households and accounts for 23 per cent of Africa’s GDP.

Smallholder farmers account for more than 60 per cent of the population, yet the continent’s full agricultural potential remains untapped. 

Farmers who grow food on small plots of land, especially those in rural areas, still struggle to make ends meet and feed their own families, let alone spare surplus produce for both domestic and export markets.

This is why African countries keep importing food that could be produced locally by smallholder farmers. Africa’s food import has been on an upward trajectory over the past decades and is estimated to be about US$50 billion a year and could go up to US$110 billion by 2030 if urgent actions to increase food production are not implemented.

Despite the progress made during the last two decades of the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Programme implementation, it is disconcerting to note that agricultural systems in rural African farming communities remain challenged and are passed on from generation to generation. People still spend days preparing the land using manual methods and have little to show for the tedious work each harvesting season. This situation is exacerbated by climate change and associated shocks and conflicts as well as recent global crises such as Covid-19 and the conflict in eastern Europe.

Because agriculture is not substantially mechanised in many countries, it is seen as heavy work and is especially unattractive to the young people who represent 60 per cent of the continent’s population. Because farming in African rural communities is not innovative enough, it is seen as an unpleasant venture where one has to wake up before daybreak to break their backs on the farms, with little to show for the hard labour.

The answer to Africa’s struggling agricultural sector hugely lies in innovativeness. This underscores the need for smallholder farmers to take up the rural innovative agriculture solutions that have been tested and are working for other farmers who used to struggle to sustain their ventures.

Luckily, agriculture is one of the sectors that have witnessed significant growth in creativity, with innovators coming up with modern ways to handle farm mechanisation and to improve access to farm inputs, finances, markets, and digital agriculture services. These innovations are elevating Africa through shared information among farmers who are transforming their ventures from solitary struggles to businesses that thrive.

Agriculture innovations such as Hello Tractor, DryCard, Wakulima Digital, and hundreds of other innovations are transforming the lives of smallholder farmers. In Kenya and Nigeria, for instance, Hello Tractor allows smallholder farmers to hire tractors via an app the way we hire cabs. This way, farmers do not have to own a tractor when they only need it for a single day to prepare land for planting and to wait again for the next planting season.

The DryCard has come in handy to minimise post-harvest losses in produce such as maize and beans among farming communities in Rwanda and Ethiopia. The card determines if the grain is dry enough to prevent mold growth during storage. One simply puts the seeds in a jar with the card, waits for 30 seconds, and sees the results.

Wakulima Digital is a loan-disbursement solution that is enabling farmers in Tanzania to meet their financial obligations during characteristic post-harvest price downturns. By accessing loans through their mobile phones, smallholder farmers can secure funds without having to sell their produce at low prices during harvest periods.

Other agricultural innovations have been identified and documented through the support of both IFAD and AGRA under the Leveraging South-South and Triangular Cooperation to share rural development solutions for the private sector engagement initiative.

While these, and other innovations have transformed the lives of thousands of farmers, their uptake remains slow, especially in rural farming communities.

It is therefore important that stakeholders work together to boost the uptake of the rural farming solutions to transform the lives of smallholder farmers and to secure the continent’s food security as Africa’s population continues to rise every day.

It has been estimated that one in every four people will live in Africa by 2050 and that the continent holds the key to feeding the nine billion people that will inhabit this planet by 2050. These projections present hope that Africa’s food markets will expand significantly.

The prediction, however, also ignites the fear that the continent may not be able to feed its people when its population surges under the business-as-usual scenario. It has been estimated that Africa will be able to fulfil only 13 per cent of its food needs by 2050. At the moment, up to 25 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s 856 million people are undernourished, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

With maximum uptake of the hundreds of innovative solutions that continue to emerge in the agriculture sector, farmers will reap more without having to prepare their land for days. Technological innovations will give rise to modern farms which will in turn prompt young people to take up various opportunities along the agriculture value chain. When this happens, unemployment will be forgotten and the poverty cycle in African rural farming communities will be a thing of the past.

These solutions and many more can be accessed in the Rural Solutions Portal (https://ruralsolutionsportal.org/en/home).

Originally posted on: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke

AHERO, Kenya: September 30, 2022 – Kowuor Central Village Youth Group, based in Ahero Sub County of Kenya’s Kisumu County, some 319Km West of the country’s capital, Nairobi, has yesterday been named the winner of the competition, taking home a brand-new John Deere 5050D tractor. The competition was a joint collaboration of AGRA, American agricultural machinery manufacturer John Deere, and its dealer Mascor Kenya Limited. 

Kowuor Central Village Youth Group beat 85 other groups in the contest, which required participants to have been registered in Kenya with an involvement in agriculture for at least three years. The applicants had to submit a business plan outlining how they will use the tractor to run a mechanization business. 

The competition, targeting groups with members aged 18 – 35 years, was part of AGRA’s plan to popularize agricultural mechanization services in Kenya.

“Kowuor Central Village Youth Group’s business plan stood out because it outlined a clear strategy for transforming the tractor into a profitable business, all while increasing the uptake of mechanization in their region,” said AGRA’s Kenya Country Manager, John Macharia. 

John Deere’s Divisional Sales Manager for East Africa and the Middle East, Nel Stephan, added: “Kowuor Central Village Youth Group met all the criteria for a win with a clear articulation of their growth plan through the next five years and beyond. Theirs is a social enterprise with clear benefits for members and their community.”  

Mr. Macharia emphasized the need for African countries to promote agricultural mechanization, which is a key food system growth driver, but has been slow to develop. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania had the same number of tractors as India in 1960, but the East African countries failed to keep up the pace in uptake with the latter now having 100 times more tractors in use. 

“Africa’s agriculture sector is the least mechanized in the world, partly due to the local unavailability of tractors and other implements, as well as inadequate financing. Working through youth agri-SMEs, some mechanization services can be availed closer to where they are required,” he said. 

Kowuor Central Village Youth Group’s chairperson, Dickens Muga, said the tractor will help transform their business by increasing their capacity to serve more farmers. 

“We already have an existing clientele but have been unable to serve them due to a lack of adequate machinery. It would have taken us quite some time to buy a new tractor out of our profits, and we see this winning as critical in taking our business to the next level,” he said. 

Kisumu’s County Executive Committee Member for Agriculture, Irrigation, Livestock and Fisheries Hon. Gilchrist Owuor Okuom highlighted the critical role of mechanization in increasing efficiency and productivity in crop production. He reiterated the significance of mechanization in onboarding more Youth into the Agriculture space. He described the initiative as a milestone in his government’s efforts to avail mechanization services to all farmers. He proposed that his Department would have Kowuor Central Village Youth Group as the County’s Mechanization Champions and pledged to help build the capacity of the leadership of the Group in how to profitably use the tractor. He thanked John Deere and AGRA for the initiative and appealed to other partners and entrepreneurs to come up and help fill in the gap by offering mechanization services across Kisumu County.

The John Deere AGRA competition follows a recent partnership between AGRA and John Deere to support successful mechanization service providers based on the John Deere S.M.A.R.T Model. Under the partnership, AGRA supports SMEs in acquiring business skills and financial management for growth, whilst John Deere, through its dealer network (including Mascor), supports in operator training, technician development, after-sales services, and equipment financing.

-ENDS

Note to Editors:

About AGRA

Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led and Africa-based institution that puts smallholder farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive into farming as a business that thrives. Together with our partners, we are working to sustainably grow Africa’s food systems.

AGRA strengthens seed systems, develops and promotes sustainable farming practices, helps unlock trade and markets, and supports governments who lead their countries’ development. We work with farmers to adapt to climate change, increase soil health, and protect the environment.  AGRA believes deeply in the urgency of reducing the inequality that women face in agriculture, and to unlocking the power and innovation of youth.

More information: https://agra.org/ | Rebecca Weaver, rweaver@agra.org |

About John Deere

John Deere is a trusted, world-renowned leader in producing turf, agricultural, construction, and forestry machinery solutions with state-of-the-art precision technology. With its continued focus to strengthen its presence throughout the Africa Middle East region (“AME”), John Deere AME serves its customers through more than 218 dealer touchpoints across the region, as well as sales and marketing offices Kenya and south Africa. Committed to delivering a distinctive customer experience coupled with solutions-driven advice from its authorised dealer network and John Deere Financial Solutions, John Deere AME promotes food security while actively driving a successful and inclusive agricultural community whilst supporting the growth of Africa via its construction and forestry solutions.

More information: https://www.deere.africa/en/ 

About Mascor

Mascor is one of Africa’s leading suppliers of agricultural equipment with an established dealer network in Kenya and Uganda with unrevoked technical capacity and parts stock to provide a distinctive customer experience. We are committed to offering our clients, the most professional service, workmanship, high standards and quality products. We believe in the importance of people and value creativity, innovation and enthusiasm. We are proud to be an independent company committed to growth. It is our goal to be recognised as the best in our field and more than that, to offer challenges and opportunities to all those dedicated to growing with us.

More information https://mascorafrica.com/