Africa becoming a global fertilizer production hub

Africa continues to grapple with what has been described by the UN, as the ’perfect storm of horrors’, due to the plethora of troubles that has hit the continent. From the climate change crisis, drought and famine, conflict, Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war. The war has especially wreaked havoc on the continent’s food security, due to disruptions in global supply chains pertinently in food, fuel and fertilizers. Food insecurity in the continent was already at an all-time high before the war, principally in the Horn of Africa due to the locust invasion which was climate-induced. The situation was worsened by the pandemic, but the war has caused a full-blown hunger crisis in many regions. Fertilizer shortages and their high prices thereof, continue to exacerbate the hunger quagmire. According to the 2022 Global Report of Food Crises Mid-Year Update report, at least one in five Africans goes to bed hungry, and an estimated 140 million people in Africa face acute food insecurity. Inarguably, agriculture is a mainstay in most African economies. A key factor that has aggravated the food shortages and the hunger crisis thereof, and contributed to scaling of food prices, is the abrupt spike in fertilizer prices. The