04 Oct 2013

IPNI Releases Two Videos on 4R Nutrient Stewardship Research and Adoption within the Smallholder Farming Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa


October 4, 2013 – Norcross, Georgia, U.S. – IPNI Sub-Saharan Africa Program has recently released two videos outlining the challenges and opportunities surrounding the adoption of 4R Nutrient Stewardship within the context of smallholder farming systems of the region. The series also addresses prospects for IPNI research to generate the knowledge needed to tip the region’s food security balance towards self-sufficiency and even surplus.

The global fertilizer industry has developed 4R Nutrient Stewardship as a framework to establish and implement site-specific knowledge towards defining the right source of nutrients at the right rate, time and place for sustainable plant-based production systems.

The two part video series, available on YouTube, first highlights an on-going pilot project being conducted in western Kenya that is designed to generate the 4R lessons that can be used and replicated across eastern and southern Africa. Secondly, Dr. Shamie Zingore, IPNI Director, Sub-Saharan Africa Program discusses how the 4R Nutrient Stewardship concept can be adapted to smallholder farming systems.

“Low fertilizer use in the region can be directly linked to the poor performance of the agriculture in eastern southern Africa,” says Dr. Zingore. “The key role that appropriate fertilizer use can have on the overall performance of agriculture, and its ability to impact the food security balance, hinges on a simple yet knowledge intensive 4R strategy.”

The videos, produced with the financial support of Agrium Inc, can be accessed via IPNI’s YouTube Channel - PlantNutritionInst

Link to IPNI on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/PlantNutritionInst
Link to IPNI 4R Portal:
http://www.ipni.net/4R
Link to IPNI Sub-Saharan Africa Program:
http://ssa.ipni.net/

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Media contacts: Dr. Terry Roberts, IPNI President; Phone: 770.447.0335; E-mail: info@ipni.net; or Gavin Sulewski, IPNI Editor; Phone: 770.825.8080; E-mail: gsulewski@ipni.net

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