OCP Africa develops specialized fertilizer to increase wheat production

A global leader in phosphate-based fertilizer production and exportation, OCP Africa, shows its commitment towards agricultural development by partnering with the Nigerian research institutions to help enhance the production of wheat by developing a specialized fertilizer.

OCP Africa has collaborated with research institutions in Nigeria like the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IART), Lake Chad Research Institute (LCRI), and BUK to enhance the production of wheat in Nigeria beyond the awful 5% of local consumption.

The country’s manager and deputy director of OCP Africa, Caleb Usoh at the two-day inception workshop held in Kaduna to mark the beginning of the project themed “Soil Mapping and Fertility Evaluation for Formulation and Validation of Wheat specific Fertilizer in Nigeria’ in Nigeria”, said OCP took it on itself to increase the local wheat production after the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture called on them in 2020 to help them with soil testing.

Uson was represented by the business development manager, Akin Akinwande who said the collaboration further lead to the development of quality fertilizer for around 142,000 hectares prepared for the production of wheat in the Birnin Gwari area of the state.

He said, OCP felt challenged due to the level of work involved. ‘’Wheat production in Nigeria is faced with several problems which include and may not be limited to the following: poor access to improved seed varieties, inappropriate fertilizers & agrochemicals, poor irrigation systems, lack of funding for wheat research systems, and poor knowledge of wheat agronomy.”

He said it was the right step to take in achieving the aim by calling for OCP for help and it is part of the strategy to capitalize on the collaboration to improve Nigeria ’s agricultural ecosystem, OCP called on their research partners to help achieve the aim.

He also calls on agricultural stakeholders like the donors and developmental agencies, governments, farmers, and farming community to support the vital project which required group efforts to achieve their aim.

The former executive director at LCRI, Oluwasina Olabanji, made a paper presentation on the Wheat Research and Production status in Nigeria, said, annually, the country needs 5.1 million tons of wheat grains, however, currently produces only 300,000 MTN (2017), depending on importation of the commodity to meet the enormous deficit.