OCP Africa has increased efforts to support the agricultural value chain in Ghana as it signs a partnership agreement with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
This agreement seeks to strengthen OCP Africa’s flagship agribooster program that looks at bringing a global offer to farmers with access to the quality of inputs, training and market.
As such, over 100,000 farmers across eight (8) regions of the country have received improved fertilizers to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on their activities.
The 2020 Agribooster Campaign which is aligned with Government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme, and jointly implemented between OCP Africa and MoFA, will also give training on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to the beneficiaries.
Country Manager of OCP Africa in Ghana, Samuel Oduro-Asare, indicated that the advent of the novel coronavirus has made it necessary to support farmers as their farming season is affected by the pandemic.
“COVID-19 has affected many areas of our lives and unfortunately, the agricultural sector has not been exempted. Committed as we are for the transformation of food systems in Ghana, it is thus imperative that we support our farmers in these difficult times.”
“This is why OCP Africa, in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), has committed to supplying inputs to farmers through the Agribooster program.”
He went on to acknowledge a few partners who contributed in implementing the campaign.
“Our 2020 Agribooster campaign has officially commenced with the distribution of (21,500 metric tons) of improved fertilizers (NPK 11.22.21 + TE) to farmers. Our importer partners namely; Africa Fertilizer Company Limited, Garnoma Agrichemicals, Ltd, Intercontinental Group Ltd and Glofert Ltd has distributed the fertilizers to farmer aggregators across eight regions of Ghana.”
According to Mr. Oduro, smallholder farmers will also be trained on how to properly use inputs and secure access to finance and the market. This, he believes, will positively impact their productivity and finance to help them over the negative effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.
OCP Africa is hopeful that the timely delivery of these products especially in the northern sectors will effectively assist farmers who are about to apply the fertilizers to their crops in this era.
The 2019 Agribooster Campaign trained 87 extension officers, 400 lead farmers and 42,605 smallholder farmers on Good Agricultural Practices. Additionally, 3,700 metric tonnes of NPK fertilizers were supplied to 14,800 smallholder farmers, cultivating a total of 37,000 acres.
Their yields increased from 1.8 metric tonnes per hectare to 2.6 metric tonnes per hectare, representing an increase of 44%
About OCP Africa
OCP Africa is a subsidiary of OCP Group established in 2016 with aims to contribute to the development of integrated agricultural ecosystems in Africa.
It works hand in hand with farmers to help grow the agricultural potential of the African continent through solutions adapted to local conditions and to the needs of soils and crops. In partnership with a network of partners, including governments, non-profit organizations, and companies.
OCP Africa is present in many African countries through the opening of subsidiaries and representative offices. Some of these countries are Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Benin, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Rwanda.
