Dangote Urea fertilizer plant which is expected to boost food sufficiency in Nigeria is set to commence full operation in the first quarter of 2021.
According to recent information, the newly completed fertilizer complex is said to have gulped $2.5 billion under the first phase of the project, as Africa’s most diversified manufacturing conglomerate extends dominance into the fertilizer market, with the fertilizer facility located at the Lekki Free Zone (LFZ), in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The Minister of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Alhaji Sabo Nanono during a tour of the fully completed facility in 2020, said:
“This plant in five-ten years will change Nigeria agriculture and economy, as the efforts by Dangote Industries will help to ward off the crisis encountered in local production which has impacted agriculture.
“As things that are becoming difficult for us will be resolved, especially in oil and for fertilizer due to the singular efforts, by Alhaji Dangote.
“The new fertilizer plant will make fertilizer available to Nigerian farmers, now we can forget all those merchants of fertilizer that have been confusing this country for the last society 40 years, as we have received an answer from somebody who views them and makes it straight to the farmers.”
Dakumar Edwin, the Group Executive Director, Capital Projects and Portfolio Development, Dangote Industries Limited, said:
“What we are now trying to do is customize the fertilizer, as soil condition in Kaduna is different from the soil condition in other states. This is because the climatic condition is different and the crop could be corn, maize, rice or sugar.
“So, each crop and each type of soil requires slightly different type of materials, so what we are trying to do is we are trying to analyze all the soil we are doing the soil mapping process, and then we are trying to make customized.”
Recall that Dangote Group announced that its $2 billion Granulated urea fertilizer plant which is located at Ibeju Lekki, Lagos State, will start operations before the end of December.
The take-off of the fertilizer plant had suffered some setbacks with the opening date leading to postponement a few times, owing to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dangote Fertilizer plant which is fully owned by Dangote Industries is expected to manufacture 3MMTPA of urea, cut Nigeria’s fertilizer imports, and generate $400m annual foreign exchange, in export to Africa countries.
It is important to understand that, the capacity of the plant would later be expanded to produce multiple grades of fertilizers to meet soil, crop and climate-specific requirement for the African continent, as fertilizer is essential for agribusiness in Africa.
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