Supporting Africa's Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plans (AFSH-AP)

Fertilizer Crisis Response Bulletin #21 – African Union Insights ...

The next fertilizer crisis is inevitable. Whether it becomes a food crisis depends on what we invest in now. Contact Us Today Commitment to Soil Health Adoption of the Nairobi Declaration at the Afri...

Read Article

Market-Based Programming

Private sector-led initiatives for fertilizers including crisis response and resilience building, soil health, and food systems transition.

Our Achievements since 2022 to date

2.1

Million farmers

Million people

Countries

Sustain Africa has supported just over 2 million farmers in seven countries in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2022. Sustain Africa has been operational in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mozambique, Malawi, Madagascar, Uganda and Zambia. We have also provided Government advisory and project support in Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania.
Currently, we are leading a fertilizer crisis response in Sudan through Sustain Sudan project. We are doing this by supporting agrodealers to import much needed farm inputs (fertilizer and seeds) to Sudan amid the war. We aim to support rebuilding and restoration of local food production in Sudan.

Who we Are

Sustain Africa is a multi-stakeholder platform transforming Africa’s agricultural landscape. Launched in mid-2022 at the height of the global fertilizer crisis, the initiative was created to safeguard food security, stabilize input access, and strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers across the continent.

Founded by Rabobank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), the International Fertilizer Association (IFA), the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), and AGRA as a fertilizer crisis responds mechanism in 2022.
Sustain Africa continued under IFDC and brings together business, governments, and development partners to create sustainable, market-based solutions for Africa’s food systems.

WHAT WE DO

In mid-2024, Sustain Africa adopted a new three workstream structure to guide its mission from crisis response to long term transformation.

The three workstreams are explained here.

Workstream 1

Crisis Response and Resilience Building

Rapid, market-based interventions that stabilize input markets and protect smallholder production during times of volatility.

Workstream 2

Fertilizer & Soil Health Initiatives

Driving fertilizer and soil health transformation through private investment, modern agro dealers, Community Agribusiness Service Advisors (CASAs), and extension networks. Sustain Africa also coordinates continental implementation of the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (AFSH AP 2024–2034) as Secretariat of Coalition for Fertilizer Private Sector & Business Engagement (C4FBIZ) under the African Union and AUDA NEPAD.

Workstream 3

Food Systems Transition

Supporting governments and private partners to redesign national food systems that are inclusive, competitive, and climate resilient, promoting food sovereignty and economic growth across Africa.

Sustain Africa's unique levers for change

Sustain Africa’s success is driven by the strength of its partnerships, the reach of its delivery networks, and its role as a trusted coordination platform across the continent. Through private sector leadership, collaboration, and innovation, Sustain Africa delivers impact at scale, ensuring that every intervention, from fertilizer access to food systems transformation, is grounded in efficiency, inclusion, and sustainability.

These three levers, Scale and Diversity of Partners, Reach at Farmer Level, and Complementarity, define how Sustain Africa translates strategy into tangible results for farmers and markets across Africa.

Scale and diversity of partners

Sustain Africa focuses on private sector led programming and operates through a powerful network of partners that spans the entire agricultural value chain, from fertilizer manufacturers and producers, input suppliers, and agro dealers, to financiers, governments, and development institutions.

This diversity enables the initiative to coordinate market-based delivery of affordable fertilizers and soil health products alongside complementary inputs such as certified seed, crop protection, and biological innovations. We also offer de risking mechanisms to enable the private sector to move commodities between markets with greater efficiency and reduced risk.

Through strategic partnerships, Sustain Africa facilitates market linkages that connect farmers to the market and processors while promoting inclusive financing models that allow lenders to serve smallholders sustainably.

The platform remains open and collaborative, providing a framework for cooperation across both public and private actors to achieve shared goals in productivity, resilience, and food security.

Reach at
farmer level

Sustain Africa reaches farmers through connected networks of private sector channels that deliver comprehensive, end to end support directly to the last mile.

Working through Agro Dealers, Extension Officers, Community Agribusiness Service Advisors (CASAs), and farmer associations, the initiative provides farmers with a complete suite of services across the entire crop production cycle - from fertilizers, seed access, crop protection, and agronomic advisory, to crop insurance, mechanization, post harvest management, and market access. These are complemented by diverse financial and digital solutions, including the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is transforming efficiency, decision making, and connectivity across the agricultural value chain.

This integrated approach ensures that farmers receive coherent, timely, and practical solutions that improve productivity, reduce risk, and strengthen profitability. It enables smallholders to move from subsistence to commercial production while embedding soil health restoration and climate resilience at the center of their operations.

Through this model, Sustain Africa is building a sustainable, inclusive, resilient, and market driven ecosystem that empowers farmers, accelerates rural enterprise, and strengthens Africa’s long term food security.

Complementarity

Sustain Africa complements and strengthens existing national and regional programs rather than duplicating them. It serves as a continental coordination and delivery platform, connecting governments, regional economic communities, private investors, and implementing partners to harmonize strategies and amplify results.

By linking local implementation with continental frameworks such as the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan (AFSH AP 2024–2034) and the Nairobi Declaration on Fertilizer and Soil Health, Sustain Africa plays a leading role under the African Union as the Lead Secretariat for the Continental Fertilizer Private Sector and Business Coalition (C4BIZ).

Working alongside four other coalitions focused on policy, fertilizer and soil health science and innovation, soil information, and advisory and human capital, Sustain Africa contributes to ensuring coherence, efficiency, and shared accountability across Africa’s agricultural transformation agenda. Above all, we ensure that the private sector has a strong and permanent seat at the table, shaping decisions and driving action for lasting impact.

Tab Content

This is a basic text element.

Why is
Sustain Africa Needed

The current fertilizer crisis, caused by high energy prices driven in turn by the Russia-Ukraine war, is a contributing factor in an escalating food security crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Though wholesale and retail fertilizer prices are coming down from their 2022 peak, they are not at 2021 levels. Meanwhile, farmgate and commodity prices have not risen at the same level, causing severe stress to smallholder farmer profitability.

Compounding this is a rise in the number of countries on the continent at risk of, or in, severe debt distress, and the fact that rising interest rates mean debt payments account for an increasing percentage of GDP. As a result, a number of governments on the continent that have subsidized fertilizer in the past, are considering withdrawing this funding.

Fertilizer use on the continent is already extremely low – farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa use 7 times less fertilizer than the world average. Furthermore, many farmers are not trained in how to apply fertilizer efficiently - and together with appropriate biological and organic products – to increase crop yields in a way that is economically and environmentally sustainable. Up to 40% of yield is lost to pest and lack of appropriate storage, among other factors. Yields for almost all crops are more than 3 times lower than their potential which impacts both farmer profitability and food security. We can feed 8.4 million more people per acre through the correct use of fertilizer and measures to reduce post-harvest food loss than without.