Positive feedback for positive growth
Awareness, availability, accessibility and affordability - all are closely linked, positively or negatively, when it comes to the use of fertilizer. How can farmers, who have never had the means, nor the inclination, to purchase fertilizer, be encouraged to start using it, thereby spinning the cycle of positive feedback in the direction of greater use, greater benefit and lower price?
In sub-Saharan Africa, most smallholder, subsistence farmers have little or no experience of using fertilizer. The net effect of this low use, and the rising population on the continent, is that per capita fertilizer use is falling from what is, in any case, a lamentably low level, and so too is per capita cereal production. The result is an inevitable and depressing spiral of impoverished soil and increasingly impoverished farmers.
When fertilizers are introduced to smallholder farmers for the first time,
they quickly become aware of its benefits. There is, however, a continuing
tendency to be unaware of the specific role of, and therefore need for, potash.
This is because low-yielding, subsistence crops can obtain sufficient quantities
from weathered minerals and plant residues, provided that the latter are put
back on the land and not used for fuel or thatching, purposes for which they
are much valued. Furthermore, potassium acts on quality and it acts discreetly.
This means that unless farmers can earn a premium for higher quality produce
there is little incentive to pay for a nutrient whose omission does not immediately
become apparent. Crops that are stressed through lack of potassium are more
susceptible
to drought, diseases and pests, not least because the yellowing of leaves
positively attracts aphids.
Lack of awareness leads to lack of demand and lack of availability. Input suppliers target commercial growers and do not waste their marketing resources targeting farmers who cannot afford to buy the product. The logistical problems associated with purchasing fertilizer, when there are no suppliers in the immediate neighbourhood, and the only means of travel available to smallholder farmers is by foot or by bicycle, highlights another problem - accessibility. Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are not in the vehicle-owning class. They need a local supplier who, in turn, needs to be confident that the purchased stock will be sold. Here, perhaps, is the pivotal point at which accessibility, availability and affordability come together.
Fertilizer in sub-Saharan Africa is disproportionately expensive. The reasons are many, (see article: ) but it has often been demonstrated that if farmers can purchase fertilizer is 1kg or 2kg bags, instead of the more usual and, for them very expensive, 50kg bags, they will undertake their own trials, returning in subsequent seasons for larger quantities. Once the demand is established, new retail outlets spring up, quick to take advantage of the business. With affordability and awareness come accessibility and availability - positive feedback for positive growth.
