The Translas logistics company Limited (TLCL) has been earmarked to be the sole distributor of Dangote fertilizer in Ghana by June 2022.
This fertilizer deal would help Ghanaian farmers augment all the shortages and the high price of fertilizer as a result of high importation cost. The issue of increased fertilizer prices and shortages has been in the headlines since January 2022 and has become a national issue after the Government of Ghana announced to cut down on Ghana’s fertilizer subsidy from 50 percent to 15 percent.
Alhaji Baba Kamara, the Translas Logistics Company Limited President, has signed a contract with Dangote Industries to introduce its fertilizer to the Ghanaian market. Translas, according to the memorandum of understanding signed, will be the sole distributor of the fertilizer products in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, and Burkina Faso. A letter appointing Translas Logistics Company as sole distributors of the urea-based fertilizer to parts of the West African Sub-region, stated the product would be sold by international laws and regulations.
Experts have applauded the partnership as an ambitious move, adding that the bureaucracies in supplying the Dangote fertilizer to farmers will be curtailed. Other experts also opined that the fertilizer deal has come at the right time when the farmers on the African continent needed fertilizer. Many also have expressed their belief that the Translas-Dangote fertilizer partnership would help boost productivity in Ghana and the countries covered in the memorandum of understanding.
A group of Agri-Stakeholders has expressed joy as the threats from the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana to Government to stop grain production due to the high fertilizer prices amidst other threats would be a thing of the past since Nigeria is just a stone throw away from Ghana. This emanates as a tactical relief to the nation at a critical time that fertilizer prices have skyrocketed due to the Russia-Ukraine war. The two countries are major suppliers of urea, potash, and phosphate, key components of fertilizers.
The 3 million metric tonnes fertilizer plant owned by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote was commissioned in March 2022 by President Muhammadu Buhari as part of a planned initiative to ensure food sufficiency and boost the nation’s fertilizer needs. The inauguration of the world-class fertilizer plant was estimated at $2.5 billion.
The Translas Logistics company has several years of experience in the supply chain distribution industry and is expected to bring its expertise to bear on this new task.
Dangote Fertiliser Plant is Africa’s largest Granulated Urea Fertiliser complex. The plant occupies 500 hectares of land in Lekki Free Trade Zone, Lagos, Nigeria.
Dangote Fertilizer: contributing to agricultural renovation
With Nigeria estimated to need about 5 to 7 million metric tonnes per annum of fertilizer and the with the current level of fertilizer consumption in the country, which is 1.5 million metric tonnes, the Dangote Fertilizer complex was established to produce 3 million metric tonnes per annum of urea fertilizer in phase 1.
Dangote Fertilizer works with Farmer Associations, Corporate Farms, NPK Blenders, NGO/development partners, State Governments all over Nigeria, and governments across Africa and beyond looking for a sustainable approach to improve soil and farm yields. The coming onstream of Dangote Fertilizer would surely make Africa self-sufficient in food production and a net exporter of food to the world.
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