Increase soil fertility to boost food production, tell Africa told

New focus should be given to African soils fertility to enable them to sustain food production for additional 750 million people by 2050, soil fertility experts meeting in Kenya said on Tuesday.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

New focus should be given to African soils fertility to enable them to sustain food production for additional 750 million people by 2050, soil fertility experts meeting in Kenya said on Tuesday.Food production in Africa, while increasing per hectare, is facing threats from changing climate and depleted soils, a situation that experts drawn from across the continent  said could force the continent face a prolonged severe food shortage situation in future. Data emerging from the five-day conference revealed that the use of farm inputs like fertilizers that help improve soil fertility is still low in Africa; averaging 8 kg of fertilizers per hectare compared the global average of 100 kg per hectare.The experts said it will be impossible for Africa to achieve a green revolution meant to upscale food production significantly with this level of use of fertilizers.Xinhua