This report investigates the striking contrast between wide-spread food shortage and rather low fertilizer use with respect to crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa. The average input of eight kg/ha of mineral plant nutrients is only 10 % of that in South Asia. There are many reasons for this lamentable situation and the authors commendably guide the reader through the somewhat confusing maze of national fertilizer policies.

Generally overestimated are natural obstacles like degraded soils or low rainfall. The main causes are low profitability and that fertilizers alone are hardly sufficient for the wider goal of overall development. Nevertheless, fertilization being essential for rural development, it should be enhanced by demand-pull approaches (make cropping more profitable and less risky for the farmer), supported by supply-push approaches like cheap and easily obtainable fertilizers. The politically popular fertilizer subsidies are generally disappointing and should be replaced by market-smart grants or by institutional reforms. Fertilizer policy must fit into the countries' overall development plans. The attached tool kit (on CD) offers an interactive guide for creation and evaluation of fertilizer promotion programmes.

Some critical remarks: the term ‘nutrients’ and the efficiency parameters should be better explained and the confusing double-use of N and P avoided. The promised Guidelines do not refer to fertilization, as some readers may assume (see FAO Fertilizer Bulletin 16, 2006). Finally, one might add that a large part of ‘African’ fertilizer is applied elsewhere for imported food. (‘Town people’, regrettably, care more for cheap food than for rural prosperity).

To sum up, the authors present a competent survey of African fertilizer use and corresponding development policy – for the benefit of all readers and decision makers.