Fertilizer crisis: Africa’s agroecology offers a non-chemical alternative

More than two months into the US-Israel military campaign in Iran, the world faces a new food crisis. The conflict has driven up fuel, fertilizer, plastic and shipping costs, pushing food prices higher from Manila to Quito. Food production is threatened as over 20% of global fertilizer exports cannot pass through the Strait of Hormuz, and shipments of natural gas and sulfur—essential for fertilizer production—are blocked.

International organizations are particularly worried about Africa, where hundreds of millions face food shortages and many countries rely heavily on food imports. Some senior officials at development banks are urging emergency action to secure fertilizer supplies for the continent.

This scenario echoes the 2008 global food crisis. At that time, development banks and many African governments pushed land-grant programs for large agribusinesses and subsidized chemical fertilizers. Many large-scale projects failed disastrously, leaving severe consequences for communities. Fertilizer subsidy programs also failed to boost yields or reduce poverty significantly, and they left governments deep in debt. Malawi, for example, cut budgets for infrastructure and education to pay for fertilizer subsidies.

The core issue is price. Fertilizer is not only expensive in Africa but costs more there than almost anywhere else. Corporations and traders controlling the fertilizer market earn profit margins of 30–80% across the continent. When global prices rise, they raise prices further, and when world prices fall, they keep them high. Farmers, even with subsidies, struggle to cover production costs. Heavy reliance on fertilizer imports drains scarce foreign-exchange reserves. When supply shocks hit, African countries may not be able to access fertilizer on international markets.

Efforts to boost domestic fertilizer production also face challenges. Billionaire Aliko Dangote runs Africa’s largest urea plant in Nigeria, but it mostly exports to the US and Brazil. Prices charged at home and in other African countries track international markets. In early March, just a week after the US and Israel attacked Iran, Dangote’s company hiked urea prices by 40%.

Building more fertilizer plants also means more toxic pollution for local communities. People living near the Groupe Chimique Tunisien phosphate plant in Gabes, Tunisia, have fought for years to close it due to pollution affecting health, soil and water. Chemical fertilizers are a leading cause of climate change, emitting more greenhouse gases than the aviation industry.

Instead of expanding chemical fertilizer production, African governments should redirect subsidies and policies to support agroecology. In fact, most local food in Africa is produced without chemical inputs. Farmers do not use fertilizers on traditional crops such as cassava in West Africa, sorghum in the Sahel, or bananas around the Great Lakes—those inputs are reserved mainly for export crops.

In West and North Africa, farmer organizations are promoting agroecological methods that avoid chemical fertilizers. Groups like Beo-neere, the Convergence of Rural Women for Food Sovereignty, and the We Are the Solution movement support tens of thousands of farmers. In Tunisia, the Agroecological Transition Network and the Tunisian Permaculture Association promote fertilizer-free food systems, including a “Nourriture Citoyenne” (citizen food) label for chemical-free produce.

Evidence shows agroecology can increase food output, strengthen farmer livelihoods and deliver ecosystem benefits. A series of studies in the 2000s covering 208 agricultural projects across 52 countries, involving 9 million farmers, found that adopting environmentally friendly techniques boosted yields of staple crops like cassava, sweet potatoes, millet, maize and sorghum by 50–100%.

In Senegal, farmers using agroecology achieve 17% higher yields and 36% higher incomes than conventional farmers; in Brazil, the figures are 49% and 177%, respectively. However, for agroecology to reach its full potential, the economic trap that keeps farmers in monoculture and export markets must be broken, as it undermines their ability to feed their own communities.

Agroecology is the most suitable path to restore sustainability to food systems. It also aligns fully with the call from 60 governments meeting in Colombia last month to phase out fossil fuels to fight climate change.