Can African Food Systems Thrive Without Chemical Fertilisers?

The rise in fertiliser prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran has been a stark reminder of how dependent the global food system is on this chemical input. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively blocked, the world suddenly lost one of its most critical sources of fertiliser exports, as well as the sulphur and natural gas needed to produce fertilisers elsewhere. Fertiliser prices increased sharply as a result, raising fears of a food price crisis, which could affect millions of people who are already food insecure (see Graphic 1).¹

When international fertiliser prices spike, they tend to reach their most extreme levels in Africa.² During the last surge in 2021, fertiliser companies increased their prices in Africa to levels above those on international markets, and then kept them there until 2023 when prices dropped elsewhere.³ Things could be worse this time around, given the dependence of African countries on fertilisers from the Persian Gulf (see Box).

Yet food systems in much of Africa have been shielded from the impacts of these price swings and shortages. That is because fertiliser use is much lower here than in other parts of the world. Chemical fertilisers are rarely used on traditional food crops like cassava in West Africa, sorghum in the Sahel, or banana around the Great Lakes. Nor are indigenous chicken and cattle breeds fed on diets of fertiliser-intensive commercial feeds. Fertiliser tends to be used most heavily on cash crops, like cotton or sugar cane. So, rising global fertiliser prices do not necessarily translate into higher food prices in Africa, at least for locally produced foods.