BUSINESS NEWS: Auchi Fertiliser plant storing products, to start selling in planting season – Obaseki’s aide

Auchi Fertiliser plant storing products, to start selling in planting season – Obaseki’s aide

The Edo State Government has said that the Auchi Fertiliser and Chemical Company Ltd is producing and storing products which will be available for sale when the planting season commences.

Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Agriculture and Food Security Programme, Joe Okojie, disclosed this in a chat with journalists in Benin City.

The Auchi Fertiliser and Chemical plant which is run on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with WACOT Limited, is part of the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative. It is expected to produce 55,000mt of fertiliser yearly and serve farmers in Edo State and its environs.

Okojie said the fertiliser blending plant is currently producing and storing products to be used during the planting season, stressing that the plant is not selling fertiliser yet.

According to him, “The Auchi Fertiliser plant was commissioned recently by the Vice President. The plant is producing and storing products. I’m sure when it is time to go to the farm, we will have enough fertiliser supplies from the blending plant.”

Recall that the All Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN, recently, appealed to Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to ensure that fertiliser from the state-owned fertiliser plant in Auchi, is sold directly to farmers in the state and not through middlemen.

Alhaji Abdullahi Oshiobugie, Edo North coordinator of AFAN, who said that the farmers were worried because they did not want to suffer adverse effects of price inflation by the middlemen.

He commended governor Obaseki for ensuring that the Auchi fertiliser plant commenced production fully, and stressed the need for the state government to set up a committee to monitor the movement of fertiliser in the state to avoid diversion.