Madagascar seeking Moroccan fertilizer investment

President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar announced his country is seeking an investment from Morocco in the fertilizer sector as part of its efforts to achieve farming self-sufficiency, Reuters reports.

“We are seeking Moroccan fertilizers as well as investments in the fertilizers’ sector,” Rajoelina, who visited Morocco in October, told Reuters in an email.

“We need the expertise of all, notably the Moroccan agri-food industry,” he said.

OCP, state-owned company producer of phosphate and fertilizer, is building blenders across the continent to customize fertilizers, as well as soil nutrient and ammonia production plants in Nigeria and Ethiopia.

Rajoelina added that setting up a fertilizer production plant is “a priority” of the country’s Emergency Plan. Some 80% of Malagasy people depend on 31% of Madagascar’s 8 million-hectare arable lands, he said.

OCP is very enshrined in the kingdom’s South-South cooperation. The company in October said it would earmark 4 million tons of fertilizers for the African market in 2023, double its sales on the continent in 2021.

In July, OCP also announced it was offering 180,000 tons of soil nutrients in aid and 370,000 tons at a discounted price to help African states cope with surging prices.