Grow Africa releases its latest discussion paper, Fertilizer Subsidy Reform Revives Nigeria’s Agriculture, as part of its series of case studies in support of transformative change in African agriculture.
Grow Africa’s executive director, Arne Cartridge, comments: “Opinions about the role of fertilizer subsidies in agricultural development in sub-Saharan Africa have fluctuated significantly over the past decades. Many experts believe that fertilizer subsidies represent an essential method for achieving long-term food security in the region, while providing social support to Africa’s poorest subsistence farmers…. We hope this discussion paper can stimulate discussion and the development of new solutions across the continent, and that Grow Africa can continue to a learning environment where best practices can support speed and scale in execution.”
Wasafiri’s own Karen Tibbo, an expert consultant in agriculture, food security and nutrition, researched and developed the technical report for the paper. She consulted with the wide range of stakeholders responsible for the reform programme, including the then Minister of Agriculture, Akin Adesina.
Karen explains: “He [Adesina] was clear that the main driver for reform was to hold government accountable for their use of public funds. He put a system in place to ensure the poor, who are supposed to benefit from these funds, actually received them. One of the most striking achievements was to replace the old, ineffective system of government distribution of fertilizer and, in its place, incentivise the private sector to build an agro-dealer network. This has increased access by farmers to high quality inputs more broadly, leading to higher national productivity.”
Ian Randall, Wasafiri’s practice lead for agriculture adds: “The previous fertilizer subsidies were structured in a way that perpetuated corruption and had minimal impact on inclusive agricultural growth. Akin Adesina and his team were able to embrace technology so as to dramatically reconfigure the system. It practically demonstrates how innovation and committed leadership can drive positive change in complex systems – even where entrenched, vested interests need to be overcome.”
The paper covers the agricultural transformation agenda; the reform of the national input sector; the growth enhancement support programme; targeting subsidies through farmer registration; progress around fertilizer delivery to farmers; and the broader impact of the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) programme. In addition, the study looks at pertinent lessens learned, such as:
- A national fertilizer subsidy programme can substantially increase crop yields and improve food security for smallholder farmers.
- It is possible to break the cycle of wide-scale corruption and inefficiency in national fertilizer subsidy programmes.
- Entrenched systems that paralyse productivity cannot be dismantled without high-level commitment and political goodwill.
- Investment confidence grows in an operating environment conducive to business and free of government interference.
- A demonstrable reduction in risk and transaction costs yields dramatic changes to commercial lending to agriculture.
- The delivery system is key to the effective implementation of the GES and enables government to account for the expenditure of public funds on inputs for farmers.
- Transparency and accountability are underpinned with cutting-edge technology.
- The ability to have a flexible and adaptive response to challenges in programme design makes for early and rapid success.
Download the full report, fertilizer-subsidy-reform-web, to learn more about the facts, figures and how these valuable lessons were learned.
