Rabat – Aniss Bouraqqadi, Head of Research and Development (R&D) at OCP Africa, unlocked Africa’s agricultural potential in an interview with MWN.

Despite the agricultural challenges in the continent, Bouraqqadi sees the glass as half full. In addition to possessing a significant number of youth and farmers who can largely contribute to development programs, he argued, agricultural productivity expansion is promising in Africa which will enhance food security, create jobs and promote better human nutrition.

With climate changes and water scarcity as among the factors that are derailing the continent’s quest for inclusive and sustainable growth, Bouraqqadi said it is important to increase investment in scientific research to position agriculture as a capital for sustainable economic and social development and as a solution to certain challenges like decarbonization, biodiversity and hidden hunger.

He called, in particular, on Africa’s decision-makers to prioritize investing in the development of state-of-the-art specific technological tools to modernize African agriculture. As Bouraqqadi sees it, adopting techniques like mechanization, irrigation, adapted seeds, digital soil mapping and customized fertilizers recommendations will go a long way toward ensuring food security in the continent.

“A lot is being done already to increase agricultural productivity and protect the environment. What has become  important is that there is an increasing awareness regarding the emerging threats. OCP Africa, alongside its partners, are mobilized to boost the economic growth of agriculture in the continent,” he added.

Agriculture is by far the most important economic activity in Africa, with over 60% of the Sub-Saharan population being smallholder farmers and contributing by around 30% to the region’s GDP.

Africa is a resource-rich continent, Bouraqqadi noted, highlighting that it also has large reserves of minerals for fertilizer production, which helps countries improve food systems through increased crop production.

Of the challenges still facing the continent, he stressed that the increasing human population adds to the high pressure on the already low yields, making soil health and yield increases thanks to crop and soil-specific fertilization essential for sustainable food and nutrition security

OCP Africa in developing African agricultural ecosystems

Bouraqqadi spoke about several factors that are critical for developing the agricultural ecosystems across the continent.

The proximity, availability and suitability of services and products, education and training, as well as affordability are some major elements of OCP Africa’s approach to provide farmers with the right solutions to boost local production.

He reiterated OCP Africa’s close relations with the partners, through a number of farmer centric programs such as the OCP School Lab that analyze farmers’ soils, make crop and soil-specific fertilizer recommendations and provide training on good agricultural practices; Agribooster and women in Agribooster programs that provide holistic services from land preparation, inputs access, harvesting and post-harvest services to product marketing, emphasizing on the importance of giving farmers access to tools and practices that will help them identify the right agricultural input.

“It is important to be present in the continent to understand the needs of the farmers and the type of agricultural infrastructure available. Operating closely with farmers allows us to bring specific answers to the existing challenges and provide impactful and sustainable solutions to the food system,” Bouraqqadi added.

Of OCP Africa’s inclusive and “human-centric approach,” he emphasized that the development of solutions requires investing in innovations in many fields, such as implementing appropriate business models, developing right products, manufacturing processes, and partnerships.

Bouraqqadi said that building partnerships along the value chain, with farmers, governments, national and international universities & research institutes, NGOs, private sector and other institutions is a key step to  contribute to a sustainable transformation of African food systems.

 OCP Africa’s value chain development programs

With the increasing pressure on natural resources such as soil, water, and energy, and the severity of the climate changes, Bouraqqadi pointed to several initiatives that have helped in structuring agriculture in many African countries.

Around 37 million hectares of African soils have been mapped. The company has also initiated the development of two experimental farms, in Ivory Coast and Senegal, allowing the implementation of high-quality R&D and innovation services in Africa.

Bouraqqadi also spoke about the Agribooster program and OCP School Lab, two main programs on which OCP Africa relies to provide smallholder farmers with quality inputs, training programs and access to market.

Since 2016, the two programs have supported over 1,3 million smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa.

Bouraqqadi highlighted the OCP Africa’s projects on agronomic solutions beyond fertilizers which aims, among others, at developing rhizobacteria-based inoculants to meet the nitrogen needs of legume crops in Africa, studying the African soil microbiome for a nutrient efficient agriculture system and provide sustainable agroecological practices to African farmers.

The outreach initiatives of OCP Africa focus on farmers as real agents of change to ensure sustainable agriculture and food systems while providing them with solutions that will enable them to boost their production growth and incomes.