Phosphorus (P) deficiency is one of the major yield-limiting factors for lowland rice production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Therefore, improved P management could be an effective strategy to increase lowland rice yields in SSA. The study reviews on historical and recent efforts for improving P management for lowland rice production in SSA together with their limitations and prospects for future research. Special focuses are on following three aspects: (1) suitable soil tests to assess the indigenous soil P supply and the yield response to P application in lowlands; (2) organic inputs and localized P application to the nursery bed (nursery P) and to the seedling roots at transplanting (P-dipping); (3) the interaction between P application and climate-induced stresses via its impact on phenological development. For the first aspect, we demonstrate the importance of considering the P adsorption and desorption kinetics in SSA soils, where large amounts of insoluble P complexes are bound to iron and aluminum oxides while these insoluble P pools are solubilized under submerged soil culture. We propose using the oxalate-extractable P, which extracts insoluble P pools bound to amorphous iron-oxide minerals, as a reliable test for measuring the indigenous soil P supply for lowland rice production. With respect to the second aspect, the efficient use of organic inputs—an important nutrient resource for smallholder farmers in SSA—can be reconsidered not only as a source of P but also as a substance to accelerate the chemical reaction and P solubilization in soils for lowland rice production. Several studies have demonstrated significant effects of nursery P and P-dipping to increase rice yields and agronomic P use efficiency (AE_P) as the yield gain per unit of P applied. Excess yield gains with a micro-dosing nursery P may have a risk of P mining from soils. The P-dipping retains the P input-output balance and achieves a consistently high AE_P at 74–152 kg kg⁻¹. The third aspect has received little attention in the previous studies, although recent observations indicate that P management affects rice yields via its impact on phenological development. The time to heading under P deficiency can extend beyond three weeks, which allows plants to accumulate more biomass production while increasing the risk of biotic and abiotic stresses at the reproductive and ripening stages. Further attention should be paid to changes in phenological development and their interactions with climate-induced stress to develop improved P management practices in SSA.

磷（P）缺乏是撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA）低地水稻生产的主要产量限制因素之一。因此，改善磷管理可能是提高 SSA 低地水稻产量的有效策略。该研究回顾了过去和最近为改善 SSA 低地水稻生产的磷管理所做的努力，以及它们的局限性和未来研究的前景。特别关注以下三个方面： (1) 适当的土壤测试，以评估本地土壤磷供应和低地对磷施用的产量响应；(2) 有机投入和局部施磷到苗床（苗圃磷）和移栽时的幼苗根部（浸磷）；(3) 施磷与气候胁迫之间的相互作用通过其对物候发育的影响。对于第一方面，我们证明了考虑 SSA 土壤中 P 吸附和解吸动力学的重要性，其中大量不溶性 P 复合物与铁和氧化铝结合，而这些不溶性 P 池在淹没土壤培养下溶解。我们建议使用草酸盐可提取的 P，它提取与无定形氧化铁矿物结合的不溶性 P 池，作为测量低地水稻生产的本地土壤 P 供应的可靠测试。关于第二个方面，有机投入物（SSA 小农的重要营养资源）的有效利用不仅可以重新考虑作为 P 的来源，还可以作为加速化学反应和 P 在土壤中溶解的物质低地水稻生产。_P ) 作为每单位 P 应用的产量增益。微量施肥苗圃 P 的产量增加可能有从土壤中开采磷的风险。P-浸渍保持了 P 输入-输出平衡，并在 74-152 kg kg ^{-1 下}实现了始终如一的高 AE _P. 第三个方面在以前的研究中很少受到关注，尽管最近的观察表明磷管理通过其对物候发育的影响来影响水稻产量。进入缺磷状态的时间可以延长超过三周，这使植物能够积累更多的生物量产量，同时增加生殖和成熟阶段生物和非生物胁迫的风险。应进一步关注物候发育的变化及其与气候引起的压力的相互作用，以在 SSA 中改进磷管理实践。