New Trends in Nitrogen Management: Africa Perspective

The paradox of “low N” regions vs “high N” is valid for Africa (Sutton et al., 2013). The Melbourne
declaration (December 2016) on responsible N management for a sustainable future affirmed
improvement in use efficiency, farm productivity, soil health and reduced losses of reactive N to the
environment. The impact of integrated N management and deposition in Africa is less understood and has
become a major challenge (Masso et al., 2017; Bauters et al., 2018).
Africa has 12 highest population growth rates, expected to more than double by 2050 resulting in
socioeconomic changes. The transformation needed in N management requires tsunami-like changes, not
ripples; through sustainable intensification, development of capacities, innovation ecosystems and
management of multi-stakeholder partnership. These trends will bring science-led management to scale
using value chain and creation of interoperable platform for a better product development; and improve N
knowledge of political decision makers and stakeholders.