This research addresses two questions: Why is fertilizer not yet fulfilling its potential as a major stimulus to agricultural productivity in SSA? What can be done to improve the situation? Our answers are based on an extensive review of fertilizer response, profitability, and policy literature...

To reverse the declining trends in soil fertility levels in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the use of fertilizers and other land augmenting technologies needs to increase. While overall fertilizer consumption in SSA has increased by as much as 200% from 1970 levels, the growth has been highly...

This paper examines how the fertilizer sector in general, and farmers’ demand for fertilizer in particular, has evolved since the introduction of fertilizer sector reforms in Ethiopia. There is much debate in the agricultural development literature about whether fertilizer use in Africa is...