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MAY 2024
Strengthening Soil Health and Fertilizer Use Efficiency in Africa
Ninety-five percent of our food comes from soils, making healthy soil crucial to achieving global food security. One of the biggest issues, especially in Africa where soil health is still declining, is that farmers have relied on the same soil for decades to produce crops with limited return of nutrients and carbon back into the soil. Insufficient erosion control, improper fertilizer use, over tilling, growing the same crop year after year, and other unsustainable production practices have created unhealthy soils. This means that farmers require more land to produce less food, the crops that they produce are less profitable, and they are more prone to fail due to climate extremes.
To address these issues and more, the recent Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit brought together African leaders and international partners to support African-led concrete steps to guide African nations, farmers, the global fertilizer industry, and development partners in supporting a vision for a food-secure, climate-resilient, environmentally sustainable and prosperous Africa that is not only feeding itself but helping to feed the world.
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2024 Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit
Feed the Future Deputy Coordinator for Development Dina Esposito led a delegation to the 2024 Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Summit (AFSH) to highlight U.S. support for African-led agricultural growth and emphasize the enormous potential that African farmers and agribusinesses hold to feed the continent and the world. In addition to delivering opening remarks, she also met with heads of state and other development partners. At AFSH, the U.S. joined 13 other partners in signing The Nairobi Declaration as a show of support for the AFSH Action Plan, which aims to strengthen fertilizer management and soil health across the continent. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) also issued its own statement of support of the AFSH Action Plan and its vision for reversing soil degradation, accelerating inclusive transformation and ending hunger.
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 Space to Place: Helping Farmers Get the Most From Their Soil
Right kind, right place, right time, right amount: Space to Place combines farmer knowledge of their soil conditions, crop preferences and fertilizer budget with digital maps that include critical information on soil nutrient concentrations, fertilizer-crop response data and more. This helps farmers optimize fertilizer use for productivity and profitability. Check out this new infographic explaining how Space to Place is providing solutions for farmers.
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USAID on New Episode of America Adapts Podcast
Dina Esposito joined the America Adapts podcast from the sidelines of the recent Innovations in Climate Resilience Conference to discuss the intersecting role of the new Bureau of Resilience, Environment, and Food Security, how USAID is changing to meet the moment, and the need to break down silos to accelerate change and development.
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Feed the Future Interagency Partners Send Message of Support to Nepal
On the occasion of the Nepal Investment Summit, leaders from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, United States Department of State, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and USAID shared messages of support for Nepal and its economic future in fields such as technology and agriculture.
Veterinarians Vital to One Health in Africa’s Drylands
One Health is a unifying approach that aims to integrate development and humanitarian efforts at the nexus for equitable health of people, animals and ecosystems. For pastoralist communities in Africa’s drylands, veterinarians are playing a pivotal role in applying the One Health approach to reducing climate change vulnerabilities and improving nutrition, health and livelihoods in communities.
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2024 World Food Prize Laureates Announced
Congratulations to our Feed the Future Deputy Coordinator for Diplomacy, Cary Fowler from the State Department! Drs. Fowler and Geoffrey Hawtin, the “Fathers of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault” are the 2024 World Food Prize Laureates, recognized for their longstanding contributions to seed conservation and crop biodiversity. Svalbard currently holds 1.25 million seed samples of more than 6,000 plant species as a defense against threats to global food security.
2026 Declared International Year of the Woman Farmer
The United Nations (UN) adopted a U.S.-led resolution to declare 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer. The resolution, which included 123 co-sponsors, is the first ever International Year sponsored by the U.S. at the UN General Assembly. The worldwide observance aims to raise awareness of the challenges faced by women in agrifood systems and catalyze action to address these issues. Stay tuned for ways in which you can engage more on this important effort.
Low-Emission Agriculture and Food Systems Series Now Available
A four-part series exploring different approaches and efforts towards achieving low-emissions agriculture and food systems is now available on Climatelinks. The series takes a wide-ranging look at issues including halting deforestation and safeguarding biodiversity, reducing emissions from livestock and crops, and tapping into innovative climate financing.
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Feed the Future is the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative.
Photo Credit: Jake Lyell for MCC
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