Dangote fertilizer plant ‘ll boost agriculture productivity – FG

The Federal Government said the $2.5 billion Dangote Fertiliser plant will boost agriculture productivity and address issues with low volume in Nigerian agriculture.

This was disclosed by Nigeria’s Agriculture Minister, Dr, Mohammad Abubakar at the commissioning of the Dangote Fertilizer Plant at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos on Tuesday.

He urged fertiliser stakeholders to register with the Ministry of Agriculture under its quality control programme to ensure the health of the value chain.

The Minister stated that the plant, built for $2.5 billion, is a major milestone in the agriculture policy reforms of the Buhari administration.

“For Nigeria, the agriculture sector is one of the key drivers of the economy, to ensure job creation, augmentation and production of adequate food for 200 million Nigerians.

“Consequently, the Ministry is building a strong and vibrant agriculture sector, based on the development of agriculture through private business models through a food value chain approach, one involving food technology transfer, that will cover all stages from production to integration to processing and marketing,” he said.

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He added that the Ministry is supporting farmers vigorously, citing that they are the feeders of the country.

“In Nigeria, we are facing serious challenges of low and insufficient fertilizer use, which causes low productivity of output. With this plant, I believe this would be a game-changer for this problem of fertiliser not being sufficient,” he added.

Abubakar congratulated Aliko Dangote and the entire Dangote Group for what they have done, adding that the FG has also commenced the implementation of national fertiliser quality control and currently registering all fertiliser players of all categories, as this would encourage producers, exporters sellers and distributors and make sure quality of fertiliser needed for farmers is being provided for.

Speaking at the commissioning of the Dangote Fertilizer Plant at Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari said he is optimistic that Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Industries, will replicate the success recorded in the cement industry in the fertilizers segment.