Fertiliser fears and hopes #uganda

Barely ten days after President Yoweri Museveni launched
the construction of a fertilizer factory at Sukuru in the
eastern district of Tororo, the Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) released a report that should
give policy makers some food for thought.
The report titled, "Seeking Fertile Ground for a Green
Revolution in Africa," notes that Ugandan scientists blame
nutrient mining for poor banana yields of just five to 30
tonnes per hectare.
The report adds that while farmers in many parts of the
world can harvest up to five tonnes of maize for every
hectare, their counterparts in Africa harvest only one tonne
on average. Experts blame the phenomenon of depleted
soils, which they say is costing African farmers $ 4b (more
than Shs 10.5 trillion) each year in lost productivity.
According to the report, African farmers use on average only
about ten kg of nutrient (fertilizer) per hectare, compared
with a global average of more than 130kg.
But, will the new factory being constructed by Guangzhou
Dongsong Energy Group (U) Co. Ltd bring about the change
Ugandans desperately need? Well, that is the question.
According to the Sukuru Comprehensive Industrial
Development Project's blueprint, the $620m plant will be a
complex of factories that will ensure annual production
capacity of 300,000 tonnes from a phosphates plant among
other products.
Phosphates, which are a major raw material in the
manufacture of fertilizers, were first discovered 60 years
ago in the Tororo area and recent surveys show that the
minerals in this area straddle an area of about 26.5 sq km,
with deposits estimated to be as much as 200 million
tonnes.
Ideally, the world-class phosphate deposits in Tororo
should help Uganda forget about the importation of
fertilizer. However, there are lingering fears that the Chinese
could extract and process the precious resource and then
export it to more lucrative markets at the expense of the
Ugandan farmers. It has already happened to other
resources, many of which are exported as raw materials and
brought back as unaffordable finished products. There is no
indication of what measures the government has put in
place to ensure that this does not happen to fertilizers.
Victoria Sekitoleko, the former agriculture minister and
technocrat at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), told The Independent in a telephone interview on
Aug.23 that although re-establishing the fertilizer factory in
Tororo was "extremely important," it will not be enough for
the factory to be in Tororo producing thousands of tonnes of
fertilizer.
"The government will need to make these fertilizers
affordable to Ugandan farmers otherwise they will just cross
the border," she warned.
According to FAO figures, of the overall increase in demand
for 3.5 million tonnes phosphate fertilisers between 2012
and 2016, 58% would be in Asia, 24% in America, 11% in
Europe, 4% in Africa and 3% in Oceania. This implies that
the fertilizer market is more lucrative abroad.
Yet, declining soil fertility has been cited in the
2010/11--2014/15 Agricultural Development Strategy and
Investment Plan as one of the major challenges to
increasing crop production in Uganda.
To reverse the degradation of African soils, AGRA says
farmers need to start using quality soil supplements,
including conventional mineral fertilizers and locally
available inputs like lime, phosphate rock and manure.