Glofert, one of Ghana’s leading fertiliser production companies has set up a state-of-of-the-art, blending plant worth 1.7 million euros at Suhum in the Eastern region.
With the capacity of producing 2,400 metric tons of fertiliser a day, the facility is currently the biggest fertiliser blending plant in the country.
The ultra modern facility is set to improve upon farming by increasing the yields of farmers and subsequently boost the economy through agriculture.
Speaking during the International Fertiliser Development Centre’s (IFDC) field trip to Glofert as part of their workshop in Ghana on Wednesday, President of Glofert, Foster M.Benson said, the facility would help address the yield deficit suffered by farmers in the country.
“There is a huge gap on yield in terms of farmers meeting the yield expected. Most crops produced in Ghana are about 50 per cent yield deficit,” he stated.
Farmers he said, apply fertilisers but not getting the yield because they are not applying the fertilisers in relation to the soil types.
He added that, “the plant would blend fertilisers specific to the soil requirements of the farmers to ensure that they obtained the expected yields after farming”.
With the rapid depletion of the soil in terms of nutrients, he said, farmers must ensure that the right blend of fertiliser was applied on their crops instead of picking up any fertiliser at the shelves for their farms.
“We need to devise means to meet food security as the population keeps growing. Industries are evolving with technology and must also be impacted on the fertiliser industry and farming as well as whole,” he stressed.
He said, “We intend to have fertilisers that would be tailored to specific needs of the soil. There’s a soil testing facility to test the soil and know what to blend for them to meet the yields of farmers because if you use the soil specific types of fertilisers, the yields will increase.”
This Mr Benson said complements government’s Planting for Food and Jobs initiative and the development of the economy through agriculture.
He called on the government and private to ensure that the country produces her own food and avoid importing food which had affected the local currency.
The leader of the IFDC delegation Patrice Annequin said Ghana was at the forefront with regards to the need to provide the right fertilisers for farmers to increase yield.
“Such a blending plant will produce the exact fertilisers required by the crops and Ghana has moved towards ensuring that farmers will use different types of fertilisers depending on the crops,” he stated.
Farmers he said must be in the business mood and apply appropriate fertilisers in order to make the right yields and profit.
BY MICHAEL D. ABAYATEYE
