Stakeholders seek ways to boost intra-regional fertiliser trade

Stakeholder from about 35 key fertiliser industries across Nigeria and Niger have sought deeper collaboration to enhance trade in the product within the region.

They harped on the need to improve regional fertiliser availability and use by smallholder farmers for increased yields and general well-being.

They made the call at a workshop organised by United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded ‘Feed the Future’ programme, under the Enhancing Growth through Regional Agricultural Input Systems (EnGRAIS) Project for West Africa.

In a statement, the governments of Nigeria and Niger, as well as Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders and fertiliser facilitators were urged to facilitate collaborations among central banks for seamless fertiliser transactions in the local currencies.

They were also implored to accelerate operationalisation of quality control in the region through the West Africa Committee for Fertiliser Control.

President, ANIDE, Abdoulaye Dia Oumar, said: “It is a great opportunity to offer a sustainable relationship for a win-win situation.”

We engaged directly with fertiliser manufacturers, who were represented, for example, Dangote, Indorama and Notore. We had the opportunity to visit the Dangote fertiliser plant and to discuss the barriers to trade at the borders and problems faced on the road.”

Head of Marketing, Indorama Fertiliser, Nigeria, Dr. Surendra Srivastava, said the conference developed a good template that highlighted the step-by-step requirements to “legally export our high-quality urea to Niger and other West African countries.”