Ghana’s Fertiliser Shortage Favours Locally Produced Compost

After being hit by the results of the Russia –Ukraine crisis, Ghana has seen a shortage in fertilizer which has impacted the country’s production.

To reduce the impact on crop yields in the country, Ghana’s minister of food and agriculture has suggested that farmers adopt locally produced organic compost from recycling and composting plants

The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, has proposed that farmers in Ghana adopt Zoomlion’s Integrated Recycling and Compost Plants’ (IRECOP) locally-produced organic compost for their farms to boost crop yields.

He said this while touring the company’s facilities in Goaso,  which is about 80 per cent complete, to abreast himself with the seriousness of local fertiliser manufacturers, Rice Fields and farmer groups, ginger-grower women groups and the Duayaw Nkwanta Medium Prisons Farms, among others.

He expressed worry over the acute shortage of fertilizer in the sub-region due to the Russia-Ukraine war.

As chairman of the ECOWAS Agricultural Ministers Committee and having chaired two meetings so far, Dr. Afriyie Akoto said there’s a widespread shortage of fertilizer in the sub-region and there is a need for action to be taken to reverse the trend.

Dr. Owusu Akoto said that based on this shortage, government was quick to adopt the organic fertilizer manufactured and supplied by indigenous Ghanaian companies to solve the fertilizer shortage problem.

According to the minister, his proposal is not peculiar to Ghana but the entire sub-region since the African market is not doing bad in the production and supply of organic fertilizer made in the form of compost.

He urged ECOWAS governments to consider subsidizing organic fertilizer for farmers to increase organic food growth against the inorganic food supplies in Africa.

He advised regional, municipal and district agriculture directors and staff to intensify farmer education to focus on the locally manufactured organic fertilizer to increase their produce for more harvest and incomes.

The Food and Agriculture Minister said in furtherance of government’s desire to encourage local fertilizer usage by the farmers in Ghana, 18 local organic fertilizer producers and suppliers who have applied have been identified. The government is currently working on approving them to produce and supply more organic fertilizer to farmers under a subsidized pricing scheme.

Dr. Akoto was interacting with farmers and heads of departments at the Regional Coordinating Council in Goaso during his tour of farms and farmer groups in the Ahafo Region on Monday.

During a visit to the Duayaw Nkwanta Medium Prison, the minister pointed out that the reasons for high food cost are transportation and world economic indicators – including the high cost of fertilizer.