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Ethiopia: A Fertilizer Blending Plant Inaugurated

A fertilizer blending plant built at a cost of 31 Million Birr was inaugurated on Sunday. The plant is located in the Oromia State Tulu Bulo town, Ethiopia.

The plant will make available to farmers an expanded range of soil nutrients. The products will be customized based on the specific soil types, crops and agro-ecologies, according to Ethiopian News Agency.

The plant, which has a capacity of producing 15,000 Quintals of blended fertilizers per day, will be run by the Becho Woliso Farmers’ Cooperative Union.

According to Dereje Hirpa, Head of the Union, the plant will start blended fertilizer production in the coming year.

During the inaugural ceremony Mtiku Kasa, State Minister for Agriculture, said the plant is intended to supply farmers with blended fertilizers that has different nutrients. He added the government is working with stakeholders to construct three additional plants in three different states.

A national fertilizer blending program by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Agricultural Transformation Agency was launched in 2013. The program aimed at introducing new high-yield blended fertilizers and to create Ethiopia’s first in-country blended fertilizer production facilities.

The program aims at constructing four fertilizer blending facilities in four different states, Amhara, South Nations Nationalities and Peoples, Oromia and Tigray. A compined 250,000 Tons of blended fertilizers production is expect when all four plants commence production.

According to the program the plants are going to be run by farmers’ cooperative unions. This includes Enderta in Tigray, Merkeb in Amhara, Becho Woliso in Oromia, and Melek Site in SNNPR.

Ever since fertilizer was introduced in Ethiopia, the nation’s fertilizer usage has been limited to Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Urea. Nonetheless, a research has revealed Ethiopian soils lack various compounds that could not be found in the two types of fertilizers.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency