Fertilizer use in Africa as compared to other developing regions has been limited. What types of policies and programs are needed to realize the potential benefits of fertilizer in African agriculture? This book summarizes key lessons learned from past efforts to promote fertilizer in Africa,...

African farmers have traditionally pursued shifting cultivation in response to population growth and declining soil fertility. Rural population growth and displacement, due to urban expansion and the gazetting of parks and protected areas, have long encouraged the cultivation of new land by...

The current emphasis in the development community on demonstrating policy impact requires a better understanding of national policy-making processes to recognize opportunities for, and limits to, generating policy change. Consequently, this paper introduces an applied framework, named the...

In every region of the world, the intensification of crop-based agriculture has been associated with a sharp increase in the use of chemical fertilizer. Given the generally low levels of fertilizer use in Africa, there can be little doubt that fertilizer use must increase in Africa if the region...