Agricultural Inputs

African governments need to establish policies and infrastructure to increase fertilizer access and use, concluded a roundtable meeting between IFPRI and the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), held in Johannesburg in July. Participants agreed that increasing the use of fertilizers is critical in expanding sustainable agricultural production in the region and is in line with the goals of the 2006 Abuja Declaration regarding the use of fertilizers to stimulate a “green revolution” in Africa.

Earlier this month, Malawi’s government announced a major change to the country’s Farm Input Subsidy Programme (FISP), an 11-year-old program designed to achieve food self-sufficiency and increased incomes for Malawi’s resource-poor farmers. For the 2015-2016 season, a 50kg bag of fertilizer will cost farmers K3500 (approximately USD 6.31), a 600 percent increase from last year’s cost of K500 (USD 0.90).

The following post by IFPRI senior researcher Alejandro Nin Pratt was originally published on ASTI News and Notes .

Since it was first cited in a 1972 paper by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the idea that women perform 60-80 percent of agricultural labor in Africa has been a central theme in the broader debate about gender and development. A new study released by the World Bank’s Living Standards Measurement Study – Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMSISA) initiative is now calling this commonly accepted wisdom into question, however.

Studies have shown that when women own or control household assets, they can improve the well-being of both themselves and their families.  But in many developing countries, men own and control the majority of assets. Without a fair share of ownership, women have little or no control over such decisions as what crops to plant or how and when to sell produce of livestock. Ownership and control of assets can also impact who is eligible to participate in and benefit from development programs.