As part of its efforts to ensure access to affordable, high-quality crop nutrition solutions that support the advancement of the country’s national food security strategy, Yara has committed up to US$20 million this year to provide free fertiliser to smallholder farmers in Ghana.
Danquah Addo-Yobo, Managing Director of Yara Ghana, said the initiative is anticipated to impact over 100,000 smallholder farmers and will assist the production of over 500,000 tonnes of cereals in the country while speaking at the project’s launch in Tema.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine has compromised access to affordable fertiliser everywhere, hindering farmers’ ability to feed their communities, and threatening food security across the world. It is due to this reasons that Yara is assisting farmers in this project,” he said.
With the Grow Ghana Initiative, farmers will be provided with free bags of YaraMila Actyva fertiliser in a package, effectively reducing smallholder farmers’ fertiliser cost per acre by at least 33.3 percent.
As part of the package, 18,000 metric tonnes, equivalent of 360,000 of 50kg bags, of YaraMila Actyva will be available in free bags at all Yara distribution points for farmers free of charge. This quantity, according to Yara, is to ensure that smallholders have access to enough inputs to sustain cultivation across the country for the rest of the year.
This intervention will be monitored, and its success measured using credible impact evaluation mechanisms with installation and deployment of digital tools, Mr. Addo-Yobo said, adding: “There is a market system approach that will support at least 115 retailers and distributors.”