Soil, seed investment key to Africa's food resilience

Greater investment in sustainable production, including healthier soils and climate-resilient seed systems, is key to strengthening Africa's food systems, while finance and markets are important in helping farmers adopt new practices and withstand shocks, African agricultural experts say.

The call came at a webinar ahead of the Africa Food Systems Forum 2026, to be held in Kigali, Rwanda, from Aug 31 to Sept 4, as Africa's push to close its agricultural productivity gap is increasingly turning to how food is produced on the farm.

Bongani Nkhabindze, a program officer at the African Union Development Agency, said Africa's agricultural transformation would require moving from commitments to investment and implementation.

He said investment in soil health should extend beyond fertilizer supply. "When we talk of soil health, the investment architecture is basically around knowing the soil, restoring the soil, equipping the farmer, financing the transition, building markets, and then measuring progress and scaling up," he said.

But the experts stressed that investment in agricultural technologies and inputs alone will not necessarily translate into higher productivity if farmers cannot access or afford them.

Alain Sy Traore, director of the Soil Values Program at the International Fertilizer Development Center, emphasized the need to combine agricultural technologies and practices with finance, market access and an enabling policy environment to increase their adoption by farmers.

"You may give a farmer the best varieties of seeds, the best fertilizer. If you cannot access it, you are wasting your time," Traore said. "If you cannot sell this product to the market, you are wasting your time."

Traore also called for a shift away from blanket fertilizer application toward approaches based on farmers' specific soil conditions. "There's no longer a place for blanket fertilization," he said, emphasizing the need to analyze soils and determine the appropriate nutrient components before developing fertilizer formulas for farmers.

The experts also identified seed systems as a critical part of efforts to make African agriculture more resilient to climate shocks.

"Any climate resilience that we are talking about in our value chains must start with the genetics that are packaged in seed," said Francis Mwatuni, lead for Seed Systems Analysis and Knowledge Resources at the Center of Excellence for Seed Systems in Africa, hosted by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Farmers need varieties capable of withstanding drought, heat, pests and shorter growing seasons, he said, calling for investment in early-maturing and nutrient-dense varieties as well as breeding, quality assurance, seed multiplication, distribution and certification systems.

sharon@chinadailyafrica.com