" [1]The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency, and the newly-established African Fertiliser Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP) have signed Memorandum of Understanding to support efforts to kick-start sustainable fertilizer markets in Africa.
Through the MOU, the two Agencies will provide a platform for both public and private sectors to join together to build robust fertilizer value chain; Which will allow smallholder farmers to supply critical nutrition to a growing populations and to compete in the global food market.
The NEPAD Agency’s agriculture and food security thematic areas and specifically the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) will provide the overarching scope of the collaboration.
AFAP is an independent non-profit organisation created by a partnership of African development institutions. The partners work to increase market competition and sustainability in the fertilizer value chain.
Speaking at the signing of the MoU, Mr Scrapone said: “we look forward to working with NEPAD and contributing to CAADP’s implementation, as we together address the many challenges that exist in the fertilizer space and hopefully see significant increase in private sector investment in the development platforms NEPAD is currently working on in the coming years”.
NEPAD called for synergies with AFAP in moving from a policy framework to delivery on the ground in adding value to the agricultural sector in Africa.
“We are working together to improve the lives of our people from Cape to Cairo, so that when the new decade ends we can say that Africa has truly changed and one of the drivers of that will be agriculture, agribusiness, fertiliser” said Mr Adeoye.
