Omnia Sees Africa Increasing Farm Input Support Amid Food Security Fears
Fertilizer manufacturer Omnia Holdings says African governments are increasing support for smallholder farmers amid fears that input costs, driven higher after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, could cut crop production and worsen food insecurity, reports Reuters.
Omnia supplies fertilizer to both commercial and smallholder farmers in several sub-Saharan African countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, major fertilizer exporters, has accelerated price increases first triggered by COVID-19-induced supply chain disruptions. According to Omnia, prices of fertilizer input materials have gone up by between 200% and 400% since January 2021.
Aid agencies have warned that rising input prices could force Africa’s smallholder farmers to reduce plantings of staple grains such as maize, worsening a food crisis in a region where millions have already been plunged into extreme poverty by COVID-19, armed conflicts and climate shocks.
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