Russia-Ukraine War: Ghana to suffer from shortage of fertilizer supply
Reports indicate that Ghana is likely to suffer from the shortage of fertilizer due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
This is expected to impact negatively on crop production and soil improvement in Ghana particular under the government flagship programme planting for food and jobs (PFJ) which relies heavily on inorganic fertilizers.
Russia is one of the largest producers of fertilizers in the world and therefore the sanctions on them by the United States, NATO and European Union, will worsen supply of fertilizers making its scarce in the Sub Saharan Africa Region.
Fertilizer production supply, is said to worsen this year than the covid-19 era and will be further aggravated by economic sanctions imposed by the European Union, NATO, the United States among others on Russia.
This is because the Continent is a net importer of the commodity.
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The shortage in supply will be compounded with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on fertilizer supply which saw the lowest usage in 2020 because of the supply constraints and production bottlenecks from producing companies.
There are therefore calls for urgency in finding a remedy to the situation to avoid a significant output set back this year and in 2023.
Additionally, the report noted that investing in local production units will protect farmers in the event that imports of fertilizers fail to materialize.
Again, there are calls for government to implement deliberate policies that will encourage farmers to grow stable crops such as millet, maize, and cassava that require less amount of inorganic fertilizers to grow.
On policy recommendation for the Northern sector, the report urged government to consider implementing the fertilizer subsidy policy across board.
