As part of efforts to enhance food security in the country, reduce the impact of food induced inflation, save up to US$200m annually in foreign exchange and N60bn budgetary provisions for fertilizer subsidy annually, while creating between 80,000 and 100,000 new jobs in the country, the Federal Government says it has started implementing the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative of the Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The initiative which is expected to bring down the retail price of the product down by as much as 40% and boost local food production, according to a statement by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in the Office of the Vice President on Monday, is being executed by the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) through a Special Purpose Vehicle.
The arrangement, he continued, would lead to the roll out of one million tonnes of NPK Fertilizer in five batches of 200,000 metric tonnes each, with production of the first batch expected to be completed by the end of March.
Already, he noted, the Presidential initiative of the Buhari Administration has started yielding results, with the production of more than 4,000 metric tonnes of locally-blended fertilizer in the first week of operation.
“Beyond the broader goal of ensuring food security for the country by providing high-grade fertilizer to enhance harvest in the 2017 farming season, the Buhari administration is by this initiative reinforcing its commitment to reviving and diversifying the economy, and creating growth, through a focus on agriculture,” Akande explained.
Each bag of the finished products will be delivered to Nigeria’s farmers at a starting price of about ₦5,500, down from between ₦8,000 and ₦9,000 of imported fertilizer.
The initiative was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari last December, to achieve the local production of one million metric tonnes of blended Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) Fertilizer for the 2017 wet season farming.
Before now, stock of blended Fertilizer was shipped into the country as fully-finished products, even though Urea and Limestone, which constitute roughly two-thirds of the component of each bag, are available locally.
“The objective of the Presidential Initiative is to procure the 4 constituent raw materials for NPK Fertilizer – locally-sourced Urea, locally-sourced Limestone granules (LSG), Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) imported from Morocco, and Muriate of Potash (MOP) sourced from Europe – and blend these locally to produce NPK Fertilizer at a much reduced cost,” the statement added.
The initiative, Akande stressed, will also stimulate local production of NPK Fertilizer by resuscitating moribund fertilizer plants, and reviving the local blending Fertilizer industry; make fertilizer available to Nigerian farmers at affordable prices and in time for the 2017 wet season farming, while stimulating economic activities across the agriculture value chain and creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs.