Akufo-Addo opens fertiliser factory at Dawhenya
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Friday (September 6, 2019) commissioned the first phase of Omnifert Fertiliser Factory, a plant that produces 1,200 tonnes of fertiliser per day at Dawhenya in the Greater Accra Region.
The company, which is wholly Ghanaian-owned and has commenced operations, has a 100,000-metric tonne storage capacity with a staff strength of 400.
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President Akufo-Addo also cut the sod for the commencement of the second phase of the project.
Rationale
The Managing Director of Omnifert, Mr Michael Zormelo, said the idea for the establishment of the factory was conceived in 2017 with the main objective to support the government's vision of modernising agriculture under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
He said under the second phase, the warehouse capacity would be increased from 100,000 metric tonnes to 200,000 metric tonnes and would come with a production plant that would produce liquid or water-soluble granular fertiliser to be used for irrigation farming among others, as well as increase employment to 500.
Mr Zormelo announced that the company had started a 1,000-hectare maize farming in northern Ghana with plans to expand to 10,000 hectares.
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Transformation agenda
President Akufo-Addo said developments in the agriculture value chain formed part of the government’s transformation agenda of the sector which is the anchor of the country's economy to improve the living standards of the people and put the nation on the path of progress and prosperity.
The President said through the government flagship Planting for Food and Jobs programme, more than one million small-scale farmers were provided with farm inputs which led to a bumper harvest this year and could also help to reduce rice imports by at least 50 per cent.
Some of the finished products being bagged
Concerns
President Akufo-Addo, however, expressed worry about the low usage of fertiliser, especially among smallholder farmers, which, he said, had reduced productivity levels.
The President urged farmers to apply the right amounts of fertiliser for increased yields to enhance their incomes.
He commended Omnifert factory for not only supplying fertilisers to farmers, but also blending the fertilisers in right quantities in line with crop and specific soil types.
“Together, the government and private sector operators can work to realise goal number two of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which enjoins us to end hunger and ensure access to food by all, particularly for the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants all year round,” President Akufo-Addo added.
He expressed confidence in the Ghanaian’s sense of enterprise, creativity, innovation and hard work.
The President further stressed the importance of agriculture, saying “farming is a business and it is also a profession” and that Ghana was imbued with a unique potential to feed its growing population, meet the raw material requirements of industries, achieve food security and compete successfully as a leading supplier of agricultural products to countries in the sub-region.
He said realising a Ghana Beyond Aid agenda meant Ghana must import less and export more, adding “we must produce more locally to satisfy the demands of the domestic market and must equally produce in excess to meet international demands.”
Fertiliser application
Some of the finished products at the warehouse
The Chief Executive of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), Mr Joseph Boahen Aidoo, said only 10 per cent of cocoa farmers used fertiliser; others do not use the right quantity and quality, while some of them usually applied the fertilisers late.
He announced that a hand pollination exercise that was carried out recently had led to some trees yielding more than 100 pods, but said for the pods to survive, there must be the application of the right fertiliser and that it was for this reason the government intended to buy about seven million bags of fertilisers this year.