Nairobi has taken centre stage in a new regional push to rescue East Africa’s ailing soils and curb widespread hunger, with the formal launch of the Steering and Technical Committees of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Soil Health and Fertiliser Hub. The development signals a serious commitment by member states to arrest the decline in soil fertility that has long undermined agricultural output across the region.
The hub’s establishment traces its roots to the Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit held in May 2024, during which African heads of state and government endorsed the Nairobi Declaration on Fertiliser and Soil Health. That declaration laid out ambitious continent-wide targets and provided the political foundation for the institutional framework now taking shape in the Kenyan capital.
Among the declaration’s headline pledges, African nations agreed to triple domestic fertiliser production and distribution by 2034, restore at least 30 percent of degraded land to productive use, and ensure that 70 percent of smallholder farmers gain access to quality extension services and sound soil management guidance. These commitments carry particular weight for Kenya’s millions of small-scale farmers who already contend with worn-out soils and increasingly erratic rainfall seasons.
The urgency behind the initiative is underscored by the sheer scale of hunger across the IGAD bloc, which unites Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, and South Sudan. Policy experts within IGAD put the number of people currently experiencing food insecurity in the region at approximately 62.3 million — a crisis fuelled in large part by deteriorating soil health and inadequate fertiliser access among farming communities.
The hub has mapped out six core areas of work: harmonising agricultural policies across member states, building the capacity of local institutions and farmers, developing reliable soil information systems, promoting research and innovation, expanding fertiliser markets, and mobilising sustained financial resources. Officials were candid in acknowledging that progress will hinge on how decisively each member country moves from commitment to action at the national level.
A deliberate effort has been made to ensure the hub’s gains reach those who are routinely left at the margins of agricultural policy. Women, youth, and smallholder farmers are specifically named as priority groups, with the hub committing to improve their access to land, quality seeds, fertilisers, water, and the expanding opportunities presented by digital agriculture platforms.
For Kenya, which both hosts the hub and sits at the heart of one of East Africa’s most diverse farming landscapes, this initiative presents a real opportunity to lead by example. Should the bold pledges made under the Nairobi Declaration translate into concrete policy and investment, the region’s farmers — and the tens of millions who depend on their harvests — stand to benefit in ways that could reshape food security across East Africa for generations to come.
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