By Christopher Burke Senior Advisor, WMC Africa
The emerald hills of Uganda, the “Pearl of Africa,” tell a seductive lie. To many, the lush canopies and year-round verdancy suggest an inexhaustible fountain of fertility. However, beneath the beautiful aesthetic lies a haunting geological reality. In many parts of Uganda and across sub-Saharan Africa, productive topsoil is surprisingly thin. Below the fragile layer of top soil lies murram, a nutrient-poor, iron-rich lateritic subsoil that once exposed, bakes under the tropical sun into a literal brick.
The Green Revolution in Southeast Asia was a transformative period with agricultural productivity doubling in two decades from the mid-1960s. Soil replenishment associated with the use of fertilisers was a core component in the realization of this “miracle” alongside the development of new crop varieties, improved agronomic practices and the application of pesticides. Today, Africa stands at far more dangerous crossroads. Stakeholders have mistaken regular rainfall for soil health and begun a process of soil mining that threatens to turn Uganda’s gardens to desert.
The Great Fertilizer Gap
The disparity in how farmers feed soil is possibly the most significant, yet overlooked, metric in global economics. The contrast is staggering. According to the World Bank, the global average for fertilizer use for low and middle income counties sat at 134.2 kg per hectare (kg/ha) in 2022 with intensive producers in East Asia and the Pacific at 290.8 kg/ha while Sub-Saharan Africa averaged just 18.2 kg/ha that same year.
While the 2006 Abuja Declaration urged African Union states to raise fertiliser nitrogen (N) use to 50 kg/ha by 2015, Uganda remains among the lowest users globally. The World Bank estimated Uganda’s average fertiliser use at 3.3 kg/ha in 2023, while the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) reported a lower range of 0.23–1.5 kg/ha for the same year reflecting differences in measurement and coverage. Uganda is trying to feed a population of 46 million, growing by 1.5 million people each year, while drawing down soil nutrients faster than they are being replaced.
The Myth of Infinite Fertility
The soil fertility myth is deeply entrenched in Uganda. Blessed with dual rainfall seasons, many farmers and even policymakers operate under the assumption soils are naturally rich. The data tells a different story. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns soil fertility in Uganda is declining at an alarming rate due to unsustainable practices resulting in degradation of soil properties and low nutrient reserves.
Every time a ton of maize or coffee is harvested and exported, a specific amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is removed from the earth. Without replenishment, this is not farming, but soil mining. The legacy of centuries can be extracted in a few short seasons. Once organic matter is exhausted and soil structure collapses, cultivators hit murram and yields fall sharply. This degradation has already turned once-productive land into hardpan that resists even the heaviest rains and accelerates land degradation and localised desertification.
Crisis of Quality and Trust
Farmers who attempt to use fertilisers often encounter a “quality crisis.” The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) estimates that 30 to 40 percent of seeds sold in Uganda are counterfeit. Pesticides and fertilisers and other agricultural inputs endure similar challenges.
Nitrogen-based fertilisers are particularly prone to volatilization where nutrients literally evaporate into the air due to poor storage in the heat. Regional logistics continue to squeeze the smallholder. In 2025, changes to Kenya’s tax and subsidy regime were widely reported by stakeholders as contributing to higher input costs, in some cases driving fertiliser prices up 20–30 percent. These increases quickly transmit to landlocked Uganda through transport costs and regional supply constraints.
While the government’s Parish Development Model (PDM) aims to bridge this gap by channelling inputs to the village level, a massive void in local expertise remains. Distributing bags of NPK is not enough. Farmers must be taught how to protect the soil’s structure so the nutrients actually take hold.
The Kampala Declaration: A New Path
There is hope. It was agreed at the 2024 Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health (AFSH) Summit in Nairobi, Kenya that AU Member States need to markedly increase the health of their soils and invest in targeted and validated soil restoration efforts to reverse Africa’s interrelated challenges of land degradation, climate change, food insecurity and biodiversity loss. This was supported at the January 2025 African Union Extraordinary Summit on the Post-Malabo Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) held in Kampala with the adoption of the 10-year CAADP Strategy and Action Plan and the Kampala CAADP Declaration on Building Resilient and Sustainable Agrifood Systems in Africa to be implemented from 2026 to 2035.
The new roadmap recognizes that adding chemicals to dead, carbon-depleted soil is a futile endeavour. The goal is to triple intra-African agricultural trade and mobilize US$100 billion in public and private sector investment by 2035. For Uganda, this means moving beyond blanket fertiliser recommendations toward targeted agronomic advice that respects local soil chemistry.
The Bottom Line:
If Uganda continues to use only 3.3 kg/ha of fertiliser, the country will eventually run out of “natural” fertility. Society cannot feed a booming population on thin topsoil and a sub-layer of stone. The transition from subsistence mining to sustainable replenishing is the only way to ensure that the thin green line does not vanish. The Green Revolution in Southeast Asia proved that humanity can multiply the earth’s bounty. The task in Africa is even more vital. The continent must save the earth itself before it turns to brick beneath its feet.
About the Author: Christopher Burke is a senior advisor at WMC Africa, a communications and advisory agency located in Kampala, Uganda. With over 30 years of experience, he has worked extensively on social, political and economic development issues focused on governance, agriculture, environment issues, policy formulation, communications, advocacy, extractives, conflict transformation, international relations and peace-building in Asia and Africa.
