Farouk Gumel - Nigeria’s Fertiliser Revolution – a story of job creation and higher yields

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Farouk Gumel - Agriculture accounts for 70 of
the entire workforce in Nigeria and therefore,
remains the sector that can massively lift
Nigerians out of poverty in an inclusive and
sustainable way. It is reported that Nigeria has
60 million hectares of arable land which is
grossly underutilized. Our yields remain low and
post-harvest losses are extremely high. For
decades, Nigeria has relied on importation to
meet its food security needs.
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In the last 5 years, the Nigerian authorities
have designed and implemented various trade,
fiscal and monetary policies to support local
food production and reduce post-harvest losses.
One of these policies is the Presidential
Fertiliser Initiative (PFI) which was launched by
President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016. The programs
motive was simple. To locally produce fertiliser
in an affordable manner. Nigeria has a lot of the
key ingredients to make fertiliser locally but in
the past, has been importing most of its needs
and thus, ignoring the locally available
resources. The PFI focused on optimising the use
of local ingredients and thus, only import those
items that were not available at home.
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As a result of this favourable setting, the
number of operating blending plants in Nigeria
increased from less than 10 in 2015 to over 40 in
2020. This has led to increased fertiliser
availability across the country, thousands of
jobs created across the value chain (blending,
logistics and retail) and higher yields for
farmers. It is fair to say that this program has
led to a boom in Nigerias rural economy.
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For Nigeria to continue to move away from its
reliance on oil, more focus is needed on
increasing food production and supporting the
agricultural value chain. New PFI type programs
in other value chain areas such as seed,
agrochemicals and other inputs are needed. As
evident in fertiliser, such policies result in
investments and thus, job creation and
ultimately, prosperity.
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TGI, the parent company of WACOT Limited,
invested in the rehabilitation of Edo Fertilizer
and Chemical Company Limited, Auchi, which has
the capacity to produce about 60,000 metric
tonnes of NPK fertilizer per annum. The factory,
which has been abandoned for decades, is now
running on 3 shifts a day. The economy of Auchi,
a town in the northern part of Edo State has been
transformed as many direct and indirect jobs have
been created.
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Farouk Gumel, TGIs Group Executive Director
said, our presence in Auchi has positively
impacted the community. Our made in Auchi
fertiliser is sold all over the country. We have
truck drivers from everywhere coming to Auchi to
lift the product. The business of the local food
sellers, mechanics and other service providers in
Auchi is booming as a result of these visitors
says Farouk Gumel. Furthermore, Farouk Gumel
adds we are also seeing an increase in the
number of wholesalers and distributors looking to
offtake our products. This also means more jobs
in the retails and distribution aspect of the
value chain.
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