By IPS Correspondents
COTONOU, May 11 2007 (IPS)

More than two decades of work in the agricultural sector have taught Grégoire Comlan Houngnibo that it’s not a lack of technology which is preventing Africa from solving problems of poor soil and food insecurity – but rather lack of political will.

An agricultural engineer by training, Houngnibo served as Benin’s agriculture minister for 22 years before becoming the local representative of the International Center for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC), in 2003.

This non-profit, based in the U.S. state of Alabama, was set up in 1974 to assist developing countries in addressing various issues related to fertilizer use. As the website of the centre notes, this was a period in which fertilizers were increasingly expensive – putting developing nations “at a distinct disadvantage”.

Today, the IFDC conducts activities in a variety of sectors, including agribusiness and information systems. Its Africa division is based in the Togolese capital, Lomé.

Michée Boko of IPS spoke recently with Houngnibo about why Africa’s soils have become depleted – and what can be done to restore them.

IPS: What needs does the IFDC address?

Grégoire Comlan Houngnibo (GCH): The fundamental problem of Africa is the problem of soil fertility…What happens is that because the same ground is used for different crops which each make different demands (on the soil), if you don’t put anything in the soil it will quickly become exhausted; it becomes depleted because crops will extract nutrients from the ground…

Producers only have access to cotton inputs (fertilizers and the like) and not to other inputs, because this sector is organised. If we want to ensure food security for Africans, we must do everything so that the other crops can benefit from the same support as cotton. This is not yet the case, because we have noted that in Africa we use at most eight kilogrammes of fertilizer per hectare, while in developed countries people use up to 200 kilos…

(And) the tragedy here in Africa, is that we practice slash-and-burn farming.

IPS: Why is this a tragedy?

GCH: When an area is set on fire, the organic matter that contains about 60 percent of minerals in the soil is reduced to ashes. Each time that subsistence farmers start fires, they kill all the micro-organisms that nourish the soil…So, if we destroy the organic matter in the soil each year, we have more and more ground that cannot produce anything as is already the case in many African countries.

IPS: African states should increase awareness amongst their farmers on this issue, then…

GCH: African states are conducting encouraging initiatives in this regard. In Benin, for example, the IFDC is associated with the management of a project, PAGEFCOM (Projet d’appui à la gestion des forêts communales – the Project to Support Management of Communal Forests) that has a ‘Soil Fertility Management’ programme of which the IFDC is in charge. We are now holding discussions with farmers to establish a number of demonstration plots to show them the usefulness of fertilizer and organic matter, as we have noted that the producers are “doubting Thomases”. What they’ve not seen, they don’t believe in…

In all African countries, the problems are the same. It’s over-exploitation that has led to soil degradation – people know this. The technology to improve this is not lacking…If African states want to solve their problems of food security, they must put a very strong emphasis on support for farmers, by assisting them to improve soil fertility.

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