• Ruto said that it is time for the continent to take a deeper look at the potential it has.
• He said the Summit presents an opportunity for Africa to collectively forge a way out of such predicaments.
Image: PCS
President William Ruto has said that the ongoing Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit is an opportunity for Africa to convert its challenges into opportunities.
In his opening remarks ahead of the Heads of State and Government session, Ruto said that it is time for the continent to take a deeper look at the potential it has.
"This summit presents an opportunity to collectively deliberate and sustain our ambition by converting challenges into opportunities. To achieve this, we must assess our situation within the broader context of our African potential," he said.
He went on to state that Africa remains heavily reliant on food imports and this highlights the limited progress that has been achieved decades after the first such summit was held in Abuja, Nigeria, culminating in the Abuja Declaration.
Ruto said people across the continent continue to face many challenges, which have in the long run hindered investment, especially towards enhancing Agricultural opportunities and productivity.
"Clearly, we have important issues to reflect upon and resolve as a matter of urgency and this summit offers us a perfect opportunity for this engagement," Ruto who is the host president said.
"These challenges include the inadequate fertiliser application, extreme weather adversities, flooding on one end as we are witnessing in East Africa and drought as we are witnessing in South Africa and extensive land degradation among others. All these point to a broader issue of poor soil health which is central to our conversation in this Summit."
Ruto, however, said that the Summit presents an opportunity for Africa to collectively forge a way out of such predicaments.
He reiterated the importance of soil health and fertiliser, insisting that Africa has 60 per cent of the world's uncultivated arable land, which has the potential to put Africa ahead of the rest of the world.
"Unlocking that potential is central to our economic growth. It not only gives us an opportunity to feed our people but also to engage in agro-processing, value addition, and manufacturing with agro-based raw materials."
The Summit began on Tuesday and is set to end on Thursday.
Six Heads of State are in Nairobi for a session after the Ministerial sessions concluded on Wednesday.