Ghana government urged to produce fertilizer locally to boost farming 

Mr Jacob Gbati, the Chief Executive of Global Cargo and Commodities Limited, has called on the government to partner with African countries to produce fertilizer locally to promote farming and ensure food security.

He said it was time African countries marshalled resources together to produce fertilizer locally to promote food security and reduce dependence on imports, which he added was unreliable, citing 2022 as a clear hint of the need for the continent to be self-reliant.

He made the call in an interview with Ghana News Agency in Tamale.

Mr Gbati said the increase in prices of fertilizer globally recently has a big tendency to affect food production on the African continent, especially Ghana, adding that government must make a firm decision to go into partnership agreements with sister countries in the subregion if it could not solely take up such a huge business investment.

He noted that the main crops grown mostly in the sub-region, especially Ghana, such as cassava, rice, maize, millet, rice, and other staples required fertilizer for farmers to harvest high yielding crops to ensure food security for the sub-region and the local economy.

He stated that the country imported almost all the fertilizers for its farmers with negative effects on the economy, especially on foreign reserves as it had to use huge sums of dollars to import the product.

Mr Gbati said many smallholder farmers had issues with crop yields due to poor agronomic practices and the unavailability of inorganic fertilizer.

Source: GNA