Fertilisers in Nigeria

Fertiliser subsidies have seen a resurgence in popularity in Africa since 2000 where supposedly “smart” voucher-based schemes have come to account for a substantial share of total public spending on agriculture.

This project sought to identify anti-corruption strategies that increased productivity through fertiliser use by conducting a close comparative evaluation of two government schemes. The team worked with the national fertiliser producers organisation (FEPSAN) and other national agricultural associations to understand how pricing and incentives could be realigned to make the current fertiliser regime self-sustaining, reduce its vulnerability to black-market trading and smuggling, and increase uptake by farmers.

To achieve this, the project explored the political economy and power relationships between agro-dealers, fertiliser producers, and farmers, including surveys of farmers and agro-dealers, as well as reviewing data provided by FEPSAN, the industry association behind the PFI. This data was key, as these stakeholders were critical players in the supply chain who could engage in corrupt practices but also had the potential to deliver value by providing access to farmers. The project aimed to make recommendations for productive changes to the subsidy regime to align incentives among the different players in the market.

SOAS-ACE is currently undertaking research in Bangladesh and Nigeria, including in the education, health and power sectors, as well as on successful collective action that overthrew a corrupt autocracy. Moving beyond pure research, we are also monitoring the implementation of anti-corruption strategies our research has recommended, such as a strategy to reduce pharmaceutical companies’ overpricing of medicines.

Our partners on this research were: Yusuf Shamsudeen (CDD West Africa), Idayat Hassan (CDD West Africa), Iwuamadi Chijoke (CDD West Africa), and Chris Littleboy (PhD student, SOAS University of London).