OCP, Kenya’s KNTC to improve farmers’ access to fertilizers at affordable prices
Morocco’s leading phosphate company OCP and the Kenya National Trading Corporation (KNTC) have struck a partnership to improve farmers’ access to fertilizers at affordable prices.
The partnership between the KNTC and OCP’s office in Kenya will ensure that farmers can get fertilizers at the right time, reported the Kenyan Daily Nation paper.
KNTC managing director Timothy Mirugi said the partnership with OCP Kenya will help small farmers to access fertilizers at good prices, Daily Nation added.
Under the partnership, farmers will be able to purchase fertilizers across the country at about $23 for a 50 kg bag, compared to the previous fraudulent prices of about $28 to $32 per bag.
Mirugi described the partnership as a “laudable effort.” “As we all know, with sufficient fertilizer, productivity will be good.”
“Currently, we have supplied more than 60,000 bags of fertilizer to farmers in the breadbasket counties of Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Nandi and Trans Nzoia among others, where the planting season commenced early, between March and April,” Mirugi explained.
KNTC, a state institution, seeks to promote affordable products and support wholesale and retail trade in the country through partnerships with stakeholders in the sector.
The institution also seeks to ensure balance between demand and supply through product availability, Daily Nation noted.
OCP is a 95% Moroccan state-owned business and is the world’s largest phosphate exporter, controlling 75% of the world reserves.
The OCP group has struck partnerships with international groups, especially with African institutions, to improve agriculture productivity on the continent.
In September last year, OCP signed a memorandum of understanding with the African Union Commission and the African Union’s Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD, to develop Agriculture in the continent.
In July 2019, OCP, part of its endeavor to support the economic development of the African continent, signed with the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), a regional body of the United Nations, a Memorandum of Understanding, under which the two sides pledged to advance economic and social research as well as the implementation of economic and social policies to address the challenges facing Africa.
OCP and ECA vowed to collaborate primarily to promote innovation along the agricultural supply chain, financial innovation, including new concepts to attract capital markets, and the promotion of science, technology and innovation at the service of African agriculture.
OCP, which established an African branch called OCP Africa, has brought assistance to farmers on the continent notably via the promotion of customized fertilizers at an affordable price and supporting of innovative mechanisms to create resilient and sustainable agricultural productivity.
OCP has also launched projects to build plants in Ethiopia and Nigeria as well as blenders across the continent to bring fertilizers closer to the African farmer.
