Your Excellency; the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo;
Honourable Ministers of State;
Distinguished Honourable Members of Parliament;
Traditional Rulers,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Board Members, Chief Executive Officer and Management of COCOBOD;
Friends from the Media,
Management, Staff and Stakeholders of OMNIFERT;
Friends and Family Members,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;
On behalf of the Management and staff of OMNIFERT, I am delighted to welcome His Excellency the President of the Republic and his able team of Ministers of State to the formal commissioning ceremony of the OMNIFERT Fertilizer Factory. The OMNIFERT team has worked tirelessly for the past two (2) years to realize this dream. We are therefore highly honoured with the presence of His Excellency and government officials to commission the first phase of the fertilizer processing factory.
Your Excellency, Distinguished Guests
I am happy to announce that the dream of establishing this fertilizer processing factory was nurtured in the year 2017. This was conceived with the main objective to support the government’s vision in driving the agenda to modernize Agriculture under the flagship “Planting for Food and Jobs” programme initiated by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Our aspiration and efforts at OMNIFERT is to support the continuous improvement of food production towards the creation of jobs in Ghana. As a result, OMNIFERT- a solely Ghanaian owned company currently employs over Four Hundred (400) vibrant and passionate staff and workers who are engaged in different roles in the organisation. We envisage that with further expansion in the coming year, the factory will employ over five hundred Ghanaian workers. We wish to assure government that OMNIFERT is committed to support the government’s efforts to build a strong and viable agro-industrial sector to positively impact on the lives of the millions of Ghanaians who depend partly and fully on agriculture for a living.
Your Excellency,
Our experience in the agro-chemical industry, through our parent company Omni-Energy, highlighted a gap that could be filled in the agribusiness space, especially in the area of improving crop quality and the increase in crop yield that could be achieved through the right blend and application of fertilizer. Our fertilizer-blending facility, built in 2017, is the first of its kind in Ghana. We started the process of blending Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potash and other micronutrients into NPK fertilizers which research established as one of the best formulas for boosting of yield of grains of various categories. Today, the plant has the capacity to produce 50Metric Tonnes/hour or 1,200Metric Tonnes/day, as well as a storage capacity of 100,000 Metric Tonnes. Our facility is also the only fertilizer factory in the country capable of receiving and offloading five (5) vessels of 20,000Metric Tonnes of Fertilizer Raw Material simultaneously.
The entirety of the OMNIFERT business also benefits from our demonstration farms on which soil tests are conducted for the viability and yield capacity of the various fertilizer blends. Our blending plant therefore allows OMNIFERT to meet the specific soil demands of our customers, especially farmers, and more importantly, we offer the farmers competitive prices for our products. These investments highlight the premium OMNIFERT places on improving crop production. We are therefore commissioning the factory today because we have tried and tested the solutions, met with the approval of the end user (the farmers) and we are now ready to move to higher levels of quality production.
Your Excellency
As the nation continues to grow, OMNIFERT as an organization will continue to place a high value on the importance of agricultural development in Ghana, OMNIFERT is committed to partner government in driving forward the agenda of transformation, starting with measures to support efforts to improve farmer livelihoods and increase the economic contribution to human security through food security under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture led by the indefatigable Minister for Agriculture, Honourable Dr. Afriyie Akoto.
Your Excellency, Distinguished Guests
As part of the process of expansion and increasing production, OMNIFERT has acquired a new site for Phase Two. The Phase Two (2) of the processing factory will provide the following:
- Increase warehousing capacity for fertilizer from 100,000 tonnes to 200,000 tonnes by the third quarter of 2020.
- Construct a Folia Plant capable of producing liquid or water soluble granular fertilizer. This product will be used for irrigation farming and the production of varieties of seedlings for farmers.
- Establish a bottling plant for fungicide and pesticides to be used for spraying and fighting against crop diseases and the general protection of farm products.
As part of OMNIFERT’s forecast to contribute to Government’s overall vision for the Agricultural Sector, we are undertaking the following projects:
- A One Thousand (1000) Hectares of maize farming in the Northern part of Ghana under irrigation. We shall expand this vision to Ten Thousand (10,000) Hectares of maize farming using rain fed in the Chiana Traditional Area of the Upper East Region in the coming years. In the long run, these projects will aim to employ a total of over three thousand (3000) workers.
- Undertake Six Hundred (600) hectares of Cocoa Farm project in the Eastern and Western Regions in partnership with COCOBOD aimed at employing over five thousand (5000) people.
- Establish Food Grain Silos capable of storing over Ten Thousand (10,000) Metric Tonnes of maize and other grains as a way of contributing to food security during lean periods and also to support government’s effort at improving food storage as a strategic initiative. Government’s support on this project is highly anticipated.
- Build new fertilizer warehouses in Tamale and Techiman, each capable of storing over Ten Thousand (10,000) Metric Tons of fertilizers for quick and easy distribution to farmers in the Northern sector of the country.
- To purchase Fifty (50) additional Haulage Trucks to support OMNIFERT’s expanded projects in the next four (4) years. This initiative would also boost the distribution of fertilizer to various parts of the country concentrating on remote farming areas.
- Expand our fertilizer distribution operations internationally, with the support of government. Starting from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Our forecast of expansion demonstrates OMNIFERT’s commitment to improve agricultural productivity, incomes and employment opportunities in Ghana and beyond.
Your Excellency,
Finally, OMNIFERT will continue to invest in Plants, Warehousing and other valuable and strategic creation ventures to support the national agenda of Ghana and the sub region of West Africa. This is aimed at accelerating the modernization of Agriculture, improve agriculture productivity as well as ensuring production efficiency.
Mr. President, in identification with your recently spoken words, I affirm that “The destiny of all black people in the world is bound up with Ghana, and a performing Ghana elevates the status of Africa and black people all over the world.”
Food security is essential to the overall sustainability of human security in Ghana. This is key to our country’s National Security and Development and the continuous effort at improving the living conditions of our people. We at OMNIFERT pledge to contribute our quota to the Planting for Food and Jobs Agenda initiated by the Government of Ghana.
Finally, Mr. President,
Permit me to thank my family, particularly my wife, whose tireless efforts have shaped the development of this factory, and without whom we would not be here today.
Long Live the Planting for Food and Jobs Agenda
Long Live OMNIFERT
Long Live the Republic of Ghana.
Thank you all for your attention.
God Bless You
