World’s most expensive fertilizers are sold in Sub-Saharan Africa; what needs to change?  

Africa remains one of the most vulnerable regions in regard to food security, and is under great pressure to solve the increasing need for food due to an explosive population growth. Despite that, one out of four undernourished people globally is coming from Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is paying the highest price for fertilizers in the world. The costs of fertilizers in SSA are roughly four times higher than in Europe, and the food security of African nations is greatly dependent on imported fertilizers. Even more concerning, the global price of fertilizers has been increasing during the crisis, such as the global food crisis affecting Africa – and even during the pandemic. How is it possible that the world’s most expensive fertilizers are sold in Sub-Saharan Africa, while the continent is suffering to feed her people? What needs to change?  No local production of fertilizers   The mineral fertilizer industry is highly concentrated in a few countries that control most of the production for phosphate, nitrogen and potash fertilizers, which are produced with raw material that are not available worldwide. At this moment, only five countries control more than half of the world’s production for urea (nitrogen-based fertilizers), potash and NPK (complex fertilizers),