Nigeria to end fertilizer importation by 2023

• 5 years sentence awaits fertilizer adulterators

Citing the over 33 fertiliser blending plants across the country, currently producing about five million metric tonnes (MT) of fertilizer annually, with many more underway, the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, has expressed optimism that Nigeria would have no business importing fertiliser by 2023.

According to him, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), estimates that the country requires about 7million MT of fertilizer annually, and with the current production of 5million MT, the government had to grant waivers to some fertiliser plants to import the product. 

He said with the enabling environment provided for private sector investors, through the National Fertiliser Quality Control Act 2019, Nigeria may end the product importation in the next two years.

 

Nanono spoke at a three-day workshop with industry stakeholders on, “the Operationalisation of the National Fertiliser Quality Control Act 2019,” on Tuesday, in Abuja.

He said: “In the next two to three years, we may not need to be importing any fertiliser again into the country.

 More importantly, I want the blending plant to know that we can produce up to the capacity that we need. What we need to do is to fill in the gap, and take the product to the farmers.”