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The goal of zero hunger depends on sustaining agricultural productivity. However, productivity of agricultural land is more fragile now than at any time in the last century due to intensive demands we put on it. Certain fertilisers can be produced by processing raw materials that occur in nature and can be mined while many others are entirely synthesised. During the coming decades, mining fertiliser projects have a significant potential to play a key role to enhance agriculture and food security globally. This chapter presents a case study of a mining project for potash in Eritrea in East Africa. Agriculture and food security involve an important part of the population. Worldwide some 28 per cent of all workers are in agriculture but this proportion can be much higher in sub-Saharan African countries: over 92 per cent in Burundi, 81 per cent in Chad, and over 70 per cent in Niger, Central African Republic, Somalia, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda (World Development Indicators data from World Bank, 2019). Therefore, improving the social conditions of the agrarian population must consider multidimensional and interconnected development factors such as demographic and social conditions, land ownership, access to credit and finance, agricultural extension services, farm inputs and access to markets and information and the role of public institutions to create sound policies and implement efficient programs; environmental and climate conditions. Obviously, access to information and scientific knowledge is needed to enable these farmers to address challenges related to the quality of soil, availability of fertilisers and their fundamental connections with productivity of crops and economies of scale. |
