Nigeria fertilizer sellers to share $2.2m
The trade credit guarantee
project is AFFM’s first in the West African nation and will involve 10
fertilizer suppliers, 12 hub agro-dealers and 120 retail agro-dealers. The
project will also train farmers in proper fertilizer use and other agricultural
best practices.
A project launch held on 3 March
in the capital, Abuja, was attended by a senior director of the African
Development Bank’s Nigeria regional office, Ebrima Faal, and government and
industry partners.
Participants discussed the
project and its implementation with AFFM’s local partner, the Africa Fertilizer
and Agribusiness Partnership, or AFAP.
“We will leverage on existing
networks and look for creative solutions to increase the availability of
fertilizer in the country,” said Nana-Aisha Mohammed, AFAP’s representative at
the ceremony.
Umar Musa, Assistant Director of
FMARD’s Farm Inputs Support Services Department who represented the Nigerian
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) said AFAP should
work with the Nigerian government and other actors in the fertilizer value
chain to ensure that the project complies with Nigeria’s policies and sector
strategies.
“We expect this project to
support smallholder farmers and improve their productivity in order to help the
country increase its local production and consumption of fertilizer,” he said.
“We are confident that the
project will increase access to quality and affordable fertilizer by
smallholder farmers and hence contribute to the transformation of the
agriculture sector in Nigeria,” said Marie Claire Kalihangabo, AFFM
Coordinator.
Also speaking, Faal said the
National Fertilizer Quality Control Act 2019 further serves to reinforce the
government’s commitment to the sector.
“This program is timely because
the government has placed measures to encourage local production of
fertilizer,” he said.
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