MSU at the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit
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EmailMSU faculty at African summit emphasized local leadership for sustainable agriculture action plans.
Empowering African Agriculture: FSG Faculty Shine at the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit
FSG has a long history of close partnering with local research organizations and of a thematic focus on sustainable intensification of agricultural production in Africa and Asia. This partnering approach and thematic focus was on full display at the African Union-supported African Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya, Mayu 6-8, where two MSU faculty delivered keynote addresses to official side events organized by African partners. Prof. David Tschirley delivered the keynote at the session on "Technology Generation, Extension, and Capacity Building for Soil Health and Effective Fertilizer Use. This session also featured Prof. Lisa Tiemann from the MSU Department of Plant, Soil, And Microbial Sciences, and Dr. John Olwande, an MSU PhD and Senior Research Fellow at long-time partner Tegemeo Institute at Egerton University, Kenya.
The second keynote was delivered by Prof. T.S. Jayne at a session organized by the African Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ANAPRI) on "The Role of African Research and Training Institutions in the Implementation of the African Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan" and opened by Dr. Antony Chapoto, Executive Director of the ANAPRI Secretariat and MSU AFRE grad.
Despite not coordinating their talks, Tschirley and Jayne both spoke strongly to the need for local leadership of the research and policy process if the action plans that emerge out of the summit are to garner the needed stakeholder support and be sustainably implemented. FSG will continue to engage on this topic, working with local research centers (especially ANAPRI members) to generate high quality empirical insights that can inform locally-led design of policies and programs to drive increased and more effective fertilizer use while also promoting the soil management practices needed to improve soil health, which is the only long-term guarantor of agricultural productivity.
