LONDON, Feb. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 520 delegates will gather in Cape Town, South Africa, for the 8th annual Argus FMB Africa Fertilizer conference, taking place on 15-17 February 2017, bringing the biggest conference of its kind to southern Africa for the first time. The conference is organised by leading commodity price reporting, consulting and events company Argus.
Two major industry initiatives will be launched at the conference — the African Fertilizer Access Index (TAFAI) being developed by the Africa Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership (AFAP), and an annual report on fertilizer consumption in Africa prepared by the International Fertilizer Association (IFA).
TAFAI is a scorecard for the enabling environment for fertilizers in particular national markets – that is, the extent to which a range of political and economic factors support the objective of increasing farmers' access to fertilizer. It does this by measuring and weighting the following seven indicators – research and development, fertilizer quality, industry competitiveness, market access, services to smallholder farmers, fertilizer policy, and regulations and institutional support. Through the use of TAFAI, countries can establish their baselines and monitor their progress.
The conference agenda features over 30 speakers who will seek ways to increase African farmers' access to fertilizer and consequently to boost agricultural yields across the continent.
"We have been running this conference for many years," Argus Media chief executive and publisher Adrian Binks said, "but in the last 12 months we have seen a big surge in interest, in line with a renewal of political will to bring transformative changes to African agriculture. Cape Town is proving to be a very popular location and we are expecting our biggest ever attendance."
The lead sponsor of the conference, fertilizer producer OCP Africa, has recently announced a string of new investments, establishing a presence in a number of new locations across Africa. OCP Africa chief executive Karim Lofti Senhadji will give a keynote speech at the conference, which will be opened by the vice-president of agriculture, human and social development of the African Development Bank, Dr Jennifer Blanke.
The conference is supported by IFA, AFAP, IFDC, AfricaFertilizer.Org, FERTASA and One Acre Fund, which are all actively involved in promoting fertilizer use in southern Africa.
The agenda will focus on improving access to and increasing consumption of fertilizers and building meaningful supply chain partnerships in Africa. Delegates will hear from speakers from the private and public sectors discussing how to create enabling environments for fertilizer supply and distribution, improve access to finance and develop infrastructure that in turn will broaden intra-Africa trade, increase fertilizer consumption across the continent, and ultimately boost agricultural productivity.
"Argus FMB Africa Fertilizer has become known as the event that brings together the most important players in the global fertilizer trade with all the links in the African supply chain," Argus vice-president, conferences, David Monaghan said. "We draw delegates from 63 countries, of which 23 are African, and this number is increasing every year, as we build on our commitment to increase access to the conference for the small-to-medium enterprises that are crucial to delivering appropriate and effective fertilizers to African farmers."
Argus conferences have provided opportunities to address issues of policy and regulation and uncover emerging trends in the fertilizer markets for over 30 years. They also provide a platform to meet and do business with leading global producers, traders and distributors.
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For more information about Argus FMB Africa Fertilizer 2017:
Meeting dates: 15 -17 February 2017
Venue: The Westin Cape Town, South Africa
Contact: Laura Monk, Conference Marketing Manager
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7780 4352
Email: laura.monk@argusmedia.com
Visit: www.argusmedia.com/fertilizer-africa
About Argus Media
Argus is an independent media organisation with more than 800 staff. It is headquartered in London and has 21 offices in the world's principal commodity trading and production centres. Argus produces price assessments and analysis of international energy and other commodity markets, and offers bespoke consulting services and industry-leading conferences.
Companies in 140 countries around the world use Argus data to index physical trade and as benchmarks in financial derivative markets as well as for analysis and planning purposes.
Argus was founded in 1970 and is a privately held UK-registered company. It is owned by staff shareholders and global growth equity firm General Atlantic.
In 2011 Argus purchased FMB Consultants Ltd (FMB), a provider of price reporting, market intelligence and events to the global fertilizer industry.
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