Tema, Feb. 20, GNA - Yara International ASA has launched its new fertiliser terminal in Ghana as part of measures to position the country as a hub for the supply of fertiliser inputs within the West African sub region.
The new terminal, which was launched on Wednesday, has the capacity for blending and bagging 100 metric tonnes per hour and it comes with a storage capacity of about 50,000 metrc tonnes, supplying Ghana and beyond.
Mr Danquah Addo-Yobo, the Managing Director of Yara Ghana, said the company over the years has made significant investments in the country and that the latest of the investment was the new fertiliser terminal, located within Tema.
He said the terminal, which saw an investment of 15 million dollars, would strengthen the company’s position to support government’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) programme.
Mr Addo-Yobo said the company has been increasing supply of fertilisers to the market and it currently has a distribution network of more than 300 distributors across the country, who in turn also have their retailers.
Mr Terje Knutsen, the Executive Vice President of Yara International ASA, said they were well acquainted with the challenges farmers encountered adding that these could not addressed by a single entity.
He said what Yara was doing was to contribute its quota to solving the challenges that occurs in the sector was by partnering other entities towards securing the wellbeing of the farmer.
Mr Knutsen said the facility would support the drive of government for industrialisation through the One District One Factory (1D1F) programme since the facility is a full scale production unit capable of producing and bagging different fertiliser blends and other fertiliser products.
He said Yara International ASA, which has been operating for 114 years ago, recently made Ghana its regional hub for operations in West Africa.
Dr Sagre Bambangi, a Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture, commended Yara International for making the significant investment in the country to complement government efforts of ensuring profitability of farmers.
He said government has been operating and putting in place the necessary measures to maintain the position of significant collaborators in the agriculture sector.
Dr Bambangi said government under its flagship programme, the PFJ, subsidised seed and fertiliser by 50 per cent in 2017 with the Ministry subsidising about 200,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser in 2018.
He said the Ministry would subsidise about 460,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser this year.
Mr Robert Ahomka Lindsey, a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, said for government to achieve its industrialisation drive, the production of raw materials could not be overlooked adding the terminal would assist farmers to produce quality raw materials to feed industry demand.
He said the fertiliser terminal, which paved way for increasing the number of employees from 40 employees to 150 employees, was a significant contribution to the Ghanaian economy and called on Yara Ghana to consider sourcing raw materials within the country for its production.
GNA
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