A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria

In its endeavor to improve agricultural productivity, food security, and livelihoods, Nigeria has pursued several approaches in fertilizer policy. Most of these approaches revolved around variants of government-financed subsidy programs. This paper assesses the history of fertilizer policies in Nige...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Balana, Bedru, Fasoranti, Adetunji
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127265
_version_ 1855539274845257728
author Balana, Bedru
Fasoranti, Adetunji
author_browse Balana, Bedru
Fasoranti, Adetunji
author_facet Balana, Bedru
Fasoranti, Adetunji
author_sort Balana, Bedru
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In its endeavor to improve agricultural productivity, food security, and livelihoods, Nigeria has pursued several approaches in fertilizer policy. Most of these approaches revolved around variants of government-financed subsidy programs. This paper assesses the history of fertilizer policies in Nigeria and the tenets of the fertilizer policies in two recent national agricultural policy documents – the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) (2010/11-2016) and the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) (2016-2020). Our review results show that despite some recent achievements in ATA and APP, Nigerian fertilizer policies have lacked consistency and continuity, which in turn affected the functioning of supply chains, logistics channels including distribution costs, fertilizer prices, farmers’ access to the input, and, ultimately, application rates and crop productivity. Thus, though Nigeria is one of the leading producers of fertilizer in sub-Saharan Africa, fertilizer consumption and farm application rates are generally low (below 20 percent of the application rate per hectare (ha) in developed countries). Moreover, several exogenous factors including poor infrastructure (especially bad roads), credit constraints, extension services, high fertilizer prices, lack of access to information, security threats, and lack of quality control or assurance also affect the functioning of fertilizer supply chains in Nigeria. The newly adopted national agricultural policy (National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) promises to build on ATA and APP and gradually deregulate the fertilizer sector to incentivize private sector investments in local fertilizer production and distribution. NATIP also requires the incorporation of practical approaches to tackle important exogenous constraints. We anticipate NATIP’s commitment to policy continuity and addressing exogenous challenges will bring efficiency and effectiveness to the fertilizer sector in Nigeria.
format Artículo preliminar
id CGSpace127265
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2022
publishDateRange 2022
publishDateSort 2022
publisher International Food Policy Research Institute
publisherStr International Food Policy Research Institute
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1272652025-12-02T21:02:41Z A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria Balana, Bedru Fasoranti, Adetunji fertilizers agricultural productivity food security policies government policy smallholders subsidies farm inputs productivity In its endeavor to improve agricultural productivity, food security, and livelihoods, Nigeria has pursued several approaches in fertilizer policy. Most of these approaches revolved around variants of government-financed subsidy programs. This paper assesses the history of fertilizer policies in Nigeria and the tenets of the fertilizer policies in two recent national agricultural policy documents – the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) (2010/11-2016) and the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) (2016-2020). Our review results show that despite some recent achievements in ATA and APP, Nigerian fertilizer policies have lacked consistency and continuity, which in turn affected the functioning of supply chains, logistics channels including distribution costs, fertilizer prices, farmers’ access to the input, and, ultimately, application rates and crop productivity. Thus, though Nigeria is one of the leading producers of fertilizer in sub-Saharan Africa, fertilizer consumption and farm application rates are generally low (below 20 percent of the application rate per hectare (ha) in developed countries). Moreover, several exogenous factors including poor infrastructure (especially bad roads), credit constraints, extension services, high fertilizer prices, lack of access to information, security threats, and lack of quality control or assurance also affect the functioning of fertilizer supply chains in Nigeria. The newly adopted national agricultural policy (National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) promises to build on ATA and APP and gradually deregulate the fertilizer sector to incentivize private sector investments in local fertilizer production and distribution. NATIP also requires the incorporation of practical approaches to tackle important exogenous constraints. We anticipate NATIP’s commitment to policy continuity and addressing exogenous challenges will bring efficiency and effectiveness to the fertilizer sector in Nigeria. 2022-11-21 2023-01-17T08:14:03Z 2023-01-17T08:14:03Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127265 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Balana, Bedru B.; and Fasoranti, Adetunji S. 2022. A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2145. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136448.
spellingShingle fertilizers
agricultural productivity
food security
policies
government policy
smallholders
subsidies
farm inputs
productivity
Balana, Bedru
Fasoranti, Adetunji
A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria
title A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria
title_full A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria
title_fullStr A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria
title_full_unstemmed A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria
title_short A historical review of fertilizer policies in Nigeria
title_sort historical review of fertilizer policies in nigeria
topic fertilizers
agricultural productivity
food security
policies
government policy
smallholders
subsidies
farm inputs
productivity
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127265
work_keys_str_mv AT balanabedru ahistoricalreviewoffertilizerpoliciesinnigeria
AT fasorantiadetunji ahistoricalreviewoffertilizerpoliciesinnigeria
AT balanabedru historicalreviewoffertilizerpoliciesinnigeria
AT fasorantiadetunji historicalreviewoffertilizerpoliciesinnigeria