Yara is the leading fertilizer supplier in the country and for many smallholder farmers, the products and services it offers remain crucial to sustaining their means of livelihood.
Sergio Godoy, the new Yara Ghana MD is not new to the local terrain having served as the Commercial Director of the company for some time now. Mr. Godoy’s new role will allow him continue the path of sustainable agriculture which the company has been championing.
Apart from delivering on its promise of a sustainable agriculture, Yara has also shown a lot of commitment towards maintaining a sustainable environment as well. Its fertilizers and crop nutrition programs help farmers produce the food required for the country’s growing population.
At the same time, the company converts energy, natural minerals and nitrogen from the air into essential products for farmers as well as its industrial customers.
Under Mr. Godoy’s leadership, Yara will continue to help farmers improve their productivity and profitability while reducing environmental footprints.
“With our agronomic knowledge, Yara is keen on adding value at farm-level and bringing the right solution to the farmer,” he said.
With a permanent presence in sub-Saharan Africa since 1957, Yara, Mr. Godoy added,believes in a knowledge-based approach to profitable farming through these key areas of focus:Nutrient management, Water management, Soil management, Training and Application competence among others.
It is no longer a secret that the African continent has not been spared the devastating effects of climate change and other activities that have negatively impacted on food production.
Indeed food production,some scientists have warned, will face some difficulties due to low rainfall, as well as decrease in soil nutrients. Population growth is also expected to increase substantially globally but most especially in developing countries in Africa, thus pragmatic actions needs to be taken to feed the increasing population.
Globally, it is expected that food production needs to increase by at least 30% over the next 35 years to attain the level of food security needed. This is crucial because 9 billon people are expected to occupy the planet by 2050, according to United Nations projections.
The changes that are occurring in the climate directly impact on food security and the supply of nutritious, ample and safe sources of reasonably priced food for the planet’s 7 billion people as well as their growing demands.
Nevertheless, Mr. Godoy is a firm believer of the fact that African agriculture has a lot of untapped potential which needs to be exploited responsibly.To him, not only can agriculture be a real driver of economic growth but to poverty reduction on the continent.
Presently, agriculture accounts for around one third of Africa’s GDP and almost 60% of its export earnings. Meanwhile, as much as 80% of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods.
At the same time, more than half the world’s unused fertile land is in Africa, agricultural growth rates over the past three decades have been meagre according to James Wan in an article:“What African Agriculture Needs,” carried in Think Africa Press.
Much of farming in Africa, just like in Ghana, is overwhelmingly rural-based smallholder farming and much of Africa’s food security will depend on them.
Even though Smallholder production is important for household food security, the productivity of this sub-sector is quite low. According to the Yara Ghana MD, the smallholder farmers have an important role to play in livelihood creation amongst the rural poor.
Yara’s commitment to the rural farmer will see it step up its efforts to support the smallholder farmer through the Yara Crop Nutrition (YCN) initiative.
The MD said that: “Yara crop nutrition combines our crop knowledge, product portfolio and application competence to deliver a differentiated and profitable solution to the growers, supporting a sustainable environment. Yara is focused on balancing the increasing intensity of agricultural production with the globally emerging environmental constraints like climate change, deforestation and water scarcity.”
Training Programmes
In 2013 for instance, Yara Ghana run training programmes on Oil palm nutrition in 10 districts of the Western region.These trainings were undertaken in collaboration with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture offices in the regions and districts.
They were done within the small holder farming communities and the Yara agronomists took the smallholder farmers through the nutritional requirements of oil palm,the possible deficiencies and how to optimise yields as well as the right agronomic practices in Oil Palm so as not to impact negatively on the environment. In all,over 350 farmers benefitted from the program.
Ghana currently has an estimated unmet demand of 35,000 tons of palm oil. The projected unmet demand in the ECOWAS sub-region alone is 850,000 tons (SRID, 2010) meanwhile a bulk of the oil palm cultivation(80%) is done by small holders in Ghana. In essence these smallholder farmers are key in increasing oil palm production.
Healthier Cocoa Campaign
Another initiative highlighted by Mr. Godoy as forming an integral part of Yara is the Healthier Cocoa Campaign. This year’s edition saw 160 extension officers and 1,120 cocoa farmers benefiting from a training on some useful farming techniques to ensure the maximum potential of cocoa crop are fully utilised.
The beneficiaries were selected from 16 districts in the Western region, one of the highest cocoa growing areas.
According to Mr. Godoy, “The campaign was instituted to ensure that the majority of the farmers in the sector benefit from this unique fertilization program intended to promote high productivity in the cultivation of cocoa. It is an instituted annual program that will continue to run in all the cocoa growing districts to ensure a drastic improvement in the yields that are currently being attained by farmers.”
Crop Clinics
Again Yara Ghana Agronomists organise series of crop clinics in their areas of jurisdiction where opportunity is given to farmers to discuss with the agronomists crop nutrition issues and receive advice. The Yara agronomists also give advice on effective farm practices to maximise land usage and proper fertilizer application among others.
This has helped bring knowledge to the doorsteps of the farmers who have been very appreciative. “I have seen difference from other fertilizer companies ”says Mohammadu Nidow a farmer in northern Ghana. “I have realized that only Yara people came to communities to educate us “he observed.
Farmers’ day
Mr. Godoy who took over from Jorgen Arentz Rostrup as Yara Ghana MD, said it will maintain its support for the National Farmers’ Day. The company has over the years supported the event which seeks to reward the country’s dedicated farmers and fisher folks.
According to Mr. Godoy, government can count on the leading supplier of quality fertilizer, Yara, to once again support the Farmers’ Day —celebrated on the first Friday of every December.
By : Prosper Agbenyegah
