Ebonyi begins expansion of fertilizer plant due to surging demand by farmers
Considering unprecedented surge in demand, the Ebonyi State Government has begun expansion of production lines and installation of equipment to boost the production capacity of the Ebonyi Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited along the Abakaliki-Ogoja highway in the state capital.
Checks by Business Hilights South East Bureau Chief show that the government is taking advantage of the soaring demand for various blends of the NPK fertilizer produced in the plant to expand productivity.
General Manager, Ebonyi Fertilizer and Chemical Company, Prof. Ogbonnaya Chukwu, explained in an interview that “When completed, the new plant will add a production capacity of 40 metric tonnes of blended NPK fertilizer per hour to the existing plant built in 2004, and which has a capacity of 32 metric tonnes per hour”.
He noted that the Governor, Chief David Umahi, envisioned that the expanded capacity of the plant would place the company in good stead to meet the growing fertilizer needs of the state as well as those of neighbouring South-East and South-South states.
While commending the Federal Government for the vision behind the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, Prof Chukwu averred that “I think the Ebonyi State Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Presidential Fertilizer Initiative. The intervention by the PFI has helped us to up our game in terms of employment generation and service delivery. Farmers in the state now get very high quality fertilizers early and that was largely responsible for the high volume of rice produced in the state in 2017.
He added that the fertilizer company, which produces the different blends of the multi-nutrient NPK fertilizer, had also made it possible for farmers in neighbouring states of Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Delta and Cross River to purchase the appropriate fertilizer blends relevant for different crop types, adding that with the new plant, scarcity of fertilizer in many of the South-East and South-South states would be a thing of the past.
