The Pan-African Institute for Citizenship, Consumers and Development (CICODEV Africa) advises the new Senegalese authorities to avoid endangering the health of populations and the quality of soil with “inappropriate decisions” regarding fertilizers.
The consumer rights organization sounded the alarm a few days before the African Union summit devoted to fertilizers, from Tuesday 7 to Thursday 9 MAY 2024 in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
This meeting of the pan-African organization is presented as a framework to “define a ten-year action plan for fertilizers in Africa, by increasing them considerably”.
CICODEV Afrique, an organization based in Dakar, said in a statement that it had noted “many gaps in this strategy of the African action plan, with negative impacts on soils. […] and humans.”
“Not only do these strategies neglect the critical challenges of soil health and fertility, but they continue to promote methods that will worsen land degradation in Africa,” she warned.
The “strategies” planned by the African Union for the Nairobi summit contain “real dangers […] on food security, public health and the diversity of indigenous seeds”, which “are fundamental for food sovereignty”, supports the consumer defense organization.
“It would be dangerous for us if Senegal accepted an agricultural policy based on the use of chemical fertilizers and GMOs (genetically modified organisms). This will kill the soil and will have a negative impact on the health of populations,” warned the executive director of CICODEV Africa, Amadou Kanouté.
He adds that “the food sovereignty so praised by Senegal cannot accommodate chemical fertilizers and genetically modified organisms”.
“We support a fair and inclusive model to restore biodiversity and foster resilient food systems. And this model is agroecology,” argued Mr. Kanouté.
The executive director of CICODEV Africa and member of the board of directors of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa says he encourages the new Senegalese government to lead “an agroecological transition”, which will be its “path to salvation”. [vers] food sovereignty”.
Moctar FICUU / VivAfrik
