Africa's fertiliser crisis: Why Ghana must act on food security now

When cargo routes close thousands of kilometres away, Ghana's food prices rise within days. This harsh reality became starkly clear this year when disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz—a corridor carrying roughly a third of the world's urea and nitrogen fertilisers—sent shockwaves through African markets. Urea prices in the Middle East jumped 19 per cent within a week. In Ghana and across the continent, where food already consumes about half of household spending, the impact was devastating: urea prices doubled from $400 to $850 per tonne. For smallholder farmers and struggling families, the gap between a difficult farming season and genuine hunger collapsed to nothing.

This was not a one-off crisis. It marked the third major fertiliser shock in five years, following the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Each time, African nations scrambled to absorb the cost of distant conflicts and supply-chain breakdowns. Yet experts argue this pattern reveals something more troubling than bad luck: structural dependence on imports that turns every global disruption into a domestic emergency.

Ghana's hidden advantage in fertiliser production

The good news is that Africa—and Ghana specifically—does not need to wait for global stability or invent new technologies. The solutions already exist on the continent. Nutrient-enriched, locally produced organic fertilisers, biostimulants and emerging green-ammonia pathways are present realities that need investment and scale, not discovery.

North Africa holds roughly 78 per cent of the world's phosphate reserves. More importantly for Ghana, African fertiliser production has grown 146 per cent since 2002. Regional institutions like the African Continental Free Trade Area, the Africa Trade Exchange, and the Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Action Plan provide the machinery for pooled procurement, regional trade and local manufacturing. The infrastructure is there. What is missing is sustained investment that transforms potential into affordable fertiliser reaching smallholder farmers on time.

Beyond phosphate wealth, however, lies a critical but overlooked constraint: nitrogen. In most African soils, about 70 per cent of crop yield depends on nitrogen and phosphorus. Yet Africa's biggest bottleneck is nitrogen, the nutrient tied most directly to natural gas—the raw material from which it is manufactured. Here is where the conversation must shift for Ghana and the continent: Africa is not short of gas. Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Mozambique, Tunisia, Senegal and others sit on vast natural gas reserves, the exact feedstock needed to manufacture nitrogen at scale. Yet these nations largely produce in isolation, exporting rather than serving African farmers first.

Why this matters for Ghana

For Ghana, the implications are urgent. Smallholder farmers—many of them women—form the backbone of rural livelihoods and food production. When fertiliser prices spike, these farmers cannot absorb the cost. Crop yields fall, household incomes collapse, and food insecurity spreads from farms to cities. Rising food prices hit urban consumers hardest, particularly the poor. This cycle has played out repeatedly and threatens national food security and social stability.

The solution requires two parallel commitments. Governments must invest in local and regional fertiliser production, strategic reserves, blending facilities, soil-health services, and the trade corridors that move inputs efficiently. Critically, blanket subsidies must be retired in favour of targeted, digitally delivered support for smallholder farmers. The private sector must build manufacturing and blending capacity, provide fertiliser financing and insurance, and develop distribution networks that reach farmers affordably.

Ghana has an opportunity to lead this transformation. By aligning financing, policy design and market structure with existing technologies and entrepreneurs already on the continent, Ghana can shift from emergency response to structural resilience. The choice is clear: continue absorbing the costs of distant crises, or invest now in the local production capacity that makes the nation food-secure regardless of what happens in global shipping lanes.