Advancing the production and promotion of organic fertilizer towards achieving fod security resilience - A special feature

Agbogbloshie is a major market centre in Accra. Noted for its brisk activities with almost everything on sale, Agbogbloshie is a one stop shopping centre and a huge source for crop production for many food vendors and restaurants in and around Accra. There is never a dull moment at Agbogbloshie. However, this vibrant market, like all others, bears the brunt of the rising cost of agricultural input. Keeping markets like Agbogbloshie alive to feed the country will depend on the interventions of agriculture experts to curtail the rising cost of agriculture input, including fertilizers, caused by the ongoing production crunch in Europe, disruptions as a result of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and trade restrictions in China. For instance, according to sources from the Ministry of Agriculture, the price of inorganic fertilizer has shot up to over 300 per cent making access difficult for many local farmers. This necessitates an alternative and sustainable means for the supply of fertilizer such as the local production of organic fertilizer.

The Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, is thus taking steps to promote organic fertilizer production and uptake among farmers and enhance investment in its production and marketing. To this end, the Ministry with the support of the United Nations Joint SDG Fund Development Emergency Modality (DEM) project being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme, has produced Organic Fertilizer Guideline, initiated processes to set up organic fertilizer plants in all the 16 regions across the country and increased the quota for organic fertilizer supply in the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme. A National Technical Team (NTT) on Organic Fertilizer Promotion has also been set up to provide technical and policy guidance on activities and processes for promoting organic fertilizers in the country.