Editorial by Ghanaian Times: Producing fertiliser locally panacea to farmers’ access problems

The Akufo-Addo ad­ministration is keen on developing agriculture in the country and so is doing ev­erything possible to ensure that.

The success of this vision de­pends on relevant factors, which include inputs like fertiliser.

Therefore, it is good news that the government and the OCP Group of Morocco have com­pleted the front-end engineering design of a $1.3-billion project for the production of fertilisers locally from the country’s natural gas.(See our story on page 11)

We know already that fer­tilisers help to increase agricul­tural yields and, for that matter, proceeds from the yields.

That is to say that in an era when farmland acreage is dwindling due to expansion of communities and the use of land for other things, the best way to increase food produc­tion to meet the demand of the ever-increasing population of the country includes the use of fertiliser.

But the sweeter part of the story is the use of the country’s natural gas for the production of the fertiliser locally.

What this means is that in the first place, the country can find profitable use for excess gas from its oilfields after distribut­ing the parts for domestic and other uses.

It is understood that else­where excess gas from oilfields are flared up due to a range of issues, from market and economic constraints to a lack of appropriate regulation and political will.

We think that the fertiliser project is, therefore, a demon­stration of the country’s capacity to surmount such constraints.

This will help to expand the economy, create jobs and widen the scope of the country’s devel­opment.

Already, the government is saying that the fertiliser complex to be sited in Takoradi forms part of measures to diversify the country’s economy and create value chains for the mining and oil and gas industries.

Definitely, the complex will create direct and indirect jobs and so long as the oil and gas industries thrive in the country, those jobs emanating from the various value chains will remain and even grow.

With regard to the fertiliser to be produced, we hope it will come to resolve the problems of lack or scarcity and affordability in the country.

We are aware of the com­plaints by farmers in the country that they sometimes find it difficult to get fertiliser and even when they get it, it is not enough and the price too is too high.

In its report on the monitor­ing of the implementation of the government’s fertiliser sub­sidy programme (FSP) in 2020, the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) found out that although smallholder farm­ers were the target of the FSP, they found it difficult to access the product due to smuggling, hoarding and corruption.

It is said that the precipitous depreciation of the cedi makes imported fertiliser even more expensive on the local market.

We hope the government would treat the fertiliser project with all the serious and urgency it deserves, so that the country would stop importation of the product, and rather supply it in abundance and even export some.

That way all the problems associated with fertiliser in the country will be consigned to history.