‘Nigeria can save over $206m from efficient fertilizer usage, soil data’

‎Federal Government can save well over $206 million from balanced fertilizer blend, which contains the addition of secondary and micro nutrients (SMN), sulphur and zinc.
This is different from the over dependence on NPK 15-15-15, which currently represents 70 percent of all NPK fertilizer used in Nigeria, Kofi Debra, chief party at International Fertilizer Development Centre, said.
The balanced fertilizer, he noted, has been confirmed according to research findings to produce high yield grain as a result of ‎soil data analysis, which was done in order to determined the right kind of fertilizer applicable to a particular soil.
Recall, Nigeria’s policy direction for fertilizer use in the past two years has been towards the use of soil and crop-specific fertilizer blends to increase productivity, thus moving away from dependence on NPK-15-15-15, which currently represents 70 percent fertilizer used in Nigeria.
Kofi, who spoke with BusinessDay on the sidelines of Feed the Future Nigeria Implementing Partner’s Policy dialogue series last week in Abuja, said, “Everything begins with the soil,” while expressing further concern that Nigerian soil lacked a lot of nutrients.
The fertilizer that are currently available, one of them is called NPK 15-15-15, and that is what is being used for years and they are no longer responsive and giving us a yield gain, this is part of what prompted the research, he said.
‎Giving further insight into the impact of soil analysis, he said, “What we have done is soil analysis, and we use small soil testing kits, which is like a lab. You go to the field and do the analysis and it tells you what nutrients are lacking, and you have the idea of the formula of fertilizer to blend according to the requirement of that soil.
‎He informed further that under the Federal Government’s programme for food security, the balanced fertilizer had been utilised in Sokoto, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kogi, FCT, and Niger State, with specific targets on the farmer’s rice, sorghum and maize fields, while testifying that there was an improved yield gain.
According to Kofi, “‎The addition of Secondary and Micro Nutrients (SMN), sulphur and zinc has produced a yield gain of 2.22mt/ha over the conventionally used NPK 20-10-10 in rice production.
“Assuming the fertilizer blend-based UDP technology is adopted on only 5% of the total rice production area, an additional 33,000Mt of paddy, equivalent to 199,800Mt of milled rice could be produced, saving the government ‎ over $206 million in rice imports, amid the dwindling revenue resources.”
Further findings reveal that crop-specific fertilizer blends available and accessible to Nigeria smallholder farmers would stimulate farmer demand for fertilizer blends and improved seeds, thereby driving food sufficiency drive of the Federal government.
It would also assist in supplying the appropriate fertilizer blends in the desired quantities and on time, in addition to supplying improved seeds that fit the agro-ecologies in the right quantities and on time.
Meanwhile, Harvey Schartup, managing director, Markets 2, a USAID funded programme, told BusinessDay that having the right kind of fertilizer blend was not the holistic solution to Nigeria’s agricultural sector, as he urged the Federal Government to also look at the entire agricultural value chain.
The government must look at post harvest losses, the extension workers, and the entire value chain system. The farm-to-market technique must be developed to encourage the farmers, and the right kind of fertilizer, he said.
“Nigeria has amazing potential for agriculture, and the farmers would keep increasing their yield because the prices are good. With the right kind of input, the farmers could produce the right kind of quality food that we need, but we must develop mechanism for processing to avoid post-harvest losses, and address other concerns in the value chain,” he said.