Repurposing Agricultural Support for Soil Health

WBG Academy - Repurposing Agriculture Support for Soil Health

Rising food insecurity, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, calls into question the current $650 billion annual public support for global agrifood systems. Acute food insecurity is now at its highest recorded level since formal monitoring started. Analysis shows that 60% of this funding is distortionary to markets, production, and environment, and the low efficiency results in just 35 cents of increased output for every dollar spent. Specific regional subsidies, like ineffective fertilizer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa, further degrade soil health. These ineffective subsidies often crowd out investment in other critical public and private sector programs. Repurposing this financial support is therefore necessary to build nature-friendly value chains in the agrifood system that are crucial to creating more and better jobs.

The “Repurposing of Agricultural Support for Soil Health” Impact Program has the objective to help countries scale up improved fertilizer subsidy designs aiming at concurrently improve soil health, increase agricultural productivity, create better jobs, and mobilize private sector finance.

Participants from Ministries of Agriculture, Finance, and specialized agencies will: 

Develop plans to improve the design of fertilizer support programs based on their unique context.  
Exchange lessons from their national experience across a broad range of issues such as e-vouchers, targeting and digital farm registries, soil testing and soil information system, research and extension, fiscal impacts, technology, policy, and markets to accelerate the pace of scaling across all countries.  
Identify, together with a host of stakeholders operating in the field, models for increasing the value for money of fertilizer support programs.

Program launch: Planned in February 2026 in Lusaka, Zambia 

Participating countries: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia

Partners: Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Africa Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institute, Center for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development, Africa Fertilizer Industry Development Association (AFIDA), International Fertilizer Development Center, FCDO, BMZ, International Food and Policy Research Institute, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

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