Discussions on feasibility of establishing fertiliser plant in Ghana ongoing

A report on the feasibility for a partnership between Morocco’s OCP and Ghana, for the establishment of a fertiliser plant in Ghana is ready.

Officials from Ghana and the OCP are discussing the report in Morocco.

The Senior Adviser in the office of the President in Charge of Ghana’s Fertiliser Expansion programme, Nana Serwah Bonsu-Amoako, made this known in an interview in Marrakesh, Morocoo.

She was among participants from Ghana who attended the 10th Annual Argus Africa Fertilsers Conference here .
Nana Serwah said the preparation of the report was in furtherance of an agreement signed between OCP and the government of Ghana in September last year to develop the plant making use of Ghana’s gas resources.

She said the cost of the plant was estimated at $2 billion and the government had been looking for investors for partnership.

OCP, she said, had shown commitment and great potential to the kind of partnership needed but no arrangement had been finalised yet.

OCP is the host sponsor for the fertiliser conference which is Africa’s biggest networking event for the fertiliser trade and aimed at sharing ideas on how to improve crop yields and maximise fertilser use.

In a panel discussion, the Tanzanian Minister of Agriculture, Mr Japhet Hasunga, said Africa was facing a challenge of how to feed its increasing population.

This challenge, he said, should be addressed by making agricultural inputs including fertilisers affordable and intensifying agricultural production technologies.

He said the estimate was that by 2050 Africa’s population would be 2.5 billion.

The Director of Agriculture and Agro-industry Department of the African Development Bank, Mr Martin Fregene, called for an alignment of agriculture with trade policies in order to see results in the effort to make fertilisers more accessible and affordable.