http://addisfortune.net/articles/fertilizer-blending-to-begin-in-a-month-at-four-plants-nationwide/

Fertilizer Blending to Begin in a Month at Four Plants Nationwide

Specific areas will get specific fertilizer mix based on their soil type

The Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), together with four cooperative unions located in four regions are constructing four fertilizer blending factories that are expected to start supplying their products after one month.

The plants are being constructed by Gibe Dedessa Farmers Cooperative Union in Oromia Region, Merkeb Cooperative Union in Amhara Region, Enderta Multipurpose Farmers Cooperative Union in Tigray Region and Melek Site in Southern Nations, Nationalities & Peoples Region (SNNPR).

The construction of the blending factories was initiated by the first ever soil fertility study and digital soil fertility mapping project done in the 2013/14 fiscal year in 162 Weredas that revealed the soil in the country needed additional nutrients other than nitrogen and phosphorus.

The Ministry and the ATA found out that sulfur, potassium, boron and zinc nutrients are deficient in many areas which indicated that one compound fertilizer NPS and five blended fertilizers namely NPSB, NPKSB, NPSZnB, NPKSZnB, and NPSZn are needed to address the key nutrient deficiencies in the tested soils according to ATA’s 2013/14 report. Now the soil fertility survey of 350 Weredas is completed, but so far only the soil map for Tigray has been completed.

The Gibe Dedessa blending factory will avail its products to six western Oromia Zones including Illubabor Zone, Jimma Zone, Half of the western Shoa, and the four Zones of Wollega, according to Arebu Ali, Deputy manager of Union.

Through Ethiopian Soil Information System (EthioSIS) project, which undertook extensive demonstrations in 30,000 sites, both on farmers’ plots and at farmer training centers, the introduction of new fertilizers to the soil was validated.

The country, which has been using only di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and Urea for the past 14 years, abandoned DAP and began importing a new fertilizer called NPS.

The blending factories are meant to increase the production and productivity of the farmers in the country through the supply of appropriate fertilizer to the soils.

Since 2003/04, productivity and production of cereal crops has increased by an annual average of 5.3pc and 9.1pc, respectively. Reports from the Central Statistics Agency (CSA) indicate that there is a 15.35pc increase in total cereal production over the past year, especially in teff, wheat and maize.

The national fertilizer blending program, that was launched by the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU)between the MoA and the ATA and Allana Potash Corp in 2013, has seen the first of the planned five plants in June 2014, which, together with the new ones, is expected to benefit 11 million farmers. It was built by a 1.2 million dollar grant from the USAID Feed the Future innovation, which has also given another four million dollars for improved inputs.

The blending factories will be administered under the respective unions and they will distribute their products to the farmers in their mandated areas through the cooperatives, according to Tekalegn Mamo (Prof.), State minister and ministries advisor of MoA.

“We will have more blending factories, which will supply their respective Weredas and Kebeles appropriate fertilizers depending on their fertility,” Tekalign told Fortune.

That, he says, will increase the productivity of the farmers.

For the five factories, including the one that is operational, five international managers were hired; one for each of the factories. The staff of the factories will be hired by the unions.