“Feeding the Soil to Feed Africa: Improving Soil Health to Boost Farm Productivity,” a 2020 Borlaug Dialogue side event, examined why soil fertility is so crucial to expanding food production in sub-Saharan Africa and explored opportunities for improving farmer incentives to adopt technologies that will result in healthier, more fertile soils.

Dr. André Bationo, winner of the 2020 Africa Food Prize for his pioneering work on practical solutions to improve soils on smallholder farms, provided a keynote address. A panel of experts discussed the role of markets, the private sector, and public sector policies and programs in improving the profitability of soil fertility technologies and expanding their impact across sub-Saharan Africa. Featured speakers included Alexander Fernando, IFDC’s regional director for East and Southern Africa; Dr. Eric Smaling, professor of agronomy at Wageningen UR and former Member of Parliament in the Netherlands; and Ruth Kinoti, CEO and founder of Shalem Investments, an IFDC partner in Kenya. Dr. Julie Howard, Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, moderated the event.