Dangote Fertilizer to Trigger Agric Revolution—Marketers, Farmers
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
Some marketers and farmers in Kano State have expressed optimism that the newly introduced Dangote Fertilizer will trigger an agricultural revolution in Nigeria.
Over the weekend, more than 10 trucks supplied bags of fertilisers to Kano markets and at the event organised by Dan Hydro Company in Kano to mark the introduction of the fertilizer into the northern market, chairman of the Kano State Agro Dealers Association, Mr Shuaibu Akarami, said agro-dealers have confidence in Dangote fertilizer as they have in all his products, adding that as a dealer who spent decades in the business, he has discovered that Dangote fertilizer will have no problem penetrating the market in the North.
“I have checked the product and have found out that it will have no problem penetrating the market. With my experience in agro products, I can authoritatively say the product has met our expectations and that has confirmed the confidence we have in Dangote fertilizer and other sister products of the Dangote Group,” he said.
The Dan-Hydro fertilizer Company in Kano, which took delivery of the first batch of trucks in Kano, said the timing and strategy for the introduction are rife.
Head of Operations, Dan- Hydro Operations, Mr Hamadi Sekou Drammeh, said the Dangote fertilizer conforms to all set standard required by the regulatory agencies.
He said the phenomenon of perennial shortage of the fertilizer product will be over in the country, adding that as part of its public enlightenment plan, the company was going to work with all stakeholders in the agricultural sectors.
In the same vein, the Sales Manager of Dan Hydro Mr Sulaiman Tanko assured that the product will be sold at a reasonable price that will enable fair competition in the market.
Business Post reports that after months of speculations, Dangote Urea fertilizer is now finally on sales nationwide and it currently pushes out a minimum of 120 trucks per day across the country
The Group Executive Director, (Strategy, Capital Projects & Portfolio Development), Dangote Industries Limited, Mr Devakumar Edwin, revealed that the plant, which has the capacity to turn out more than 4,500 tonnes of urea per day, will conveniently meet the local demand and even produce for exports.
“We have the capacity to turn out 4,500 tonnes of Urea every day…this is a bulk application fertilizer…each crop in Nigeria or globally will require Nitrogen and this is a rich fertilizer, having 46 per cent nitrogen…
“The company has the capacity to meet local demand and also export to African countries… Currently, the demand is less than 1 million tonnes and we alone can produce 3 million tonnes, so we can easily meet local demand and also produce for export to other West African countries,” he said.
Aside from fertilizer production, the company, according to Mr Edwin, is already working to support the farmers with training on the application of the fertilizer and even establish laboratories across the country for proper soil examination.
“The uniqueness of this plant, apart from the fact that we are producing is the focus on farmers’ support, on training, education, development as we are now establishing laboratories across the country and even mobile laboratories where we can go drive around and take soil samples for proper examination to effectively grow the agricultural outputs across the country,” he said.
The Urea Fertilizer plant was built to tap into Nigeria’s demand for fertilizer, a critical component of achieving food sufficiency for Africa’s most populous country.
The fertilizer factory is expected to manufacture 3 million metric tonnes of urea per annum, with a view to reducing the nation’s fertilizer imports, and generating $400m annual foreign exchange from export to Africa countries.
