The Ministry of Food and Agriculture is collaborating with OCP Group, a Moroccan fertiliser manufacturer, to build a two-billion-dollar fertiliser manufacturing facility in Ghana.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Agriculture Minister, stated that the corporation will support the government's efforts to achieve the Planting for Food and Jobs project, while patting himself on the back for the increased use of fertiliser during his tenure.
"For the first time in four years, there has been a surplus of production of gas in our waters alongside petroleum," the Minister stated during the inauguration of the board of the National Fertiliser Council. We've been trying to entice international investors to come in and utilize this gas so that it can be converted into fertilizer. That's what we've done in the past.
"We're optimistic that we'll be able to acquire the necessary funding to begin development of a fertiliser production factory in Ghana." It's a $2 billion investment that we're talking about."
Nana Serwah Bonsu Amoako, the board's chairperson, pledged her organization's commitment to upholding the mandate put on them to increase the use of organic fertilizers.
"We'll start by assisting the Ministry of Food and Agriculture in implementing its strategy to address the present fertiliser problem by encouraging the use of organic fertilisers, such as locally produced poultry dung, which is both cheaper and of equivalent quality." In the long run, we'll continue to collaborate to start building our homegrown world-scale fertiliser production factory, which is slated to open in 2020.
Meanwhile, Danquah Addo-Yobo, a member of the Yara Ghana Board of Directors and Managing Director, claims that fertiliser prices would continue to rise as their foreign partners shut down owing to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
"Due to the high cost of production, we have closed our facility in Italy." We have been working very hard with our group in Ghana to ensure that we can obtain certain volumes into the nation. I can't promise that we'll have everything we need, but at the absolute least, we'll have items for the season's most crucial period."
"The other thing is that it wouldn't be inexpensive." It's past time for us to make our voices heard loud and clear to the system and to our beloved farmers," he stated.