Low fertilizer use is one of the many reasons for low agricultural productivity in Nigeria. Fertilizer use estimated at 13 kg/ha in 2009 by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), is far lower than the 200 kg/ha recommended by the FAO as well as the 104 kg/ha in South Asia and 142 kg/ha in Southeast Asia. This brief reviews existing studies on the fertilizer sector in Nigeria and provides a summary of the results of recent surveys and analytic work conducted by IFPRI in Nigeria under the Global Food Security Response (GFSR) initiative of the USAID.