Coy trains 10,000 Nigerian farmers on soil nutrients, fertility

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

A company, OCP Africa has commenced training of 10,000 farmers in development of soil characterization, nutrients and fertility in order to ensure that proper fertilizer is produced for the soil.
The country manager of company, Mr. Caleb Usoh disclosed this during the official launching of OCP School Lab Project in Nigeria held in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, yesterday.
According to Usoh, the pilot phase of the training will affect 12 Local Government Areas covering 72 communities in the state spread within a period of 3 months.
He disclosed that OCP is an African company born out of Morocco, and taking advantage of Morroco’s nature endowed mineral resource, phosphate, to bring value through agriculture to a global growing population.
The country manager added that OCP Africa is the leading company in the production and exportation of phosphate based fertilizers, phosphoric acid and other phosphate derivative and nutrient additives for plant and animal health.
The new technology according to him will increase farmers’ awareness about their soil and thus yields and build-up fresh data on Kaduna soils.
“The OCP School Lab is a powerful tool at the heart of OCP Africa development strategy. It is a mobile Soil testing laboratory/training equipment installed in a truck and manned by experts who drive daily to selected farming communities to interact with groups of smallholder farmers.
“This initiative is a farmer-centred business development model aimed at increasing the yields and the incomes of smallholders’ farmers by supporting them to have access to training and extension services based on soil analysis opportunities, and soil specific fertilizer recommendation for improved productivity.
“OCP School Lab is the first initiative of its kind launched by a fertilizer producer, bringing latest soil testing innovations and effective agronomical training to serve African farmers’ needs. OCP has piloted this program in Kenya and Cote D’voire reaching more than 5000 smallholder farmers in 2016,” he said.
Mr. Usoh commended the Kaduna State Government for supporting the transformative model which he said will attract the interest of other stakeholders within Kaduna and other states in Nigeria towards future expansion o the programme, any opportunity to train farmers to have knowledge of their soil types, nutrients availability/deficiencies will help farmers imbibe the need for scientific methods and commercial mindset towards their farming enterprises.
In his remarks, the Acting General Manager, Kaduna State Agricultural Development Agency (KADA), Mr. Dauda Ashafa, said the programme will benefits farmers in Kaduna state because at present fertilizers are produced in random to farmers; but with the new technology it is only fertilizers that will improve yields that will be produced which will save cost and increase productivity.
The District Head of Kudendan, Mr. Gabriel Bagudu Galadima expressed his delight to OCP Africa for choosing his domain to flag-off the programme.