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Join on Telegram Rabat – Morocco’s fertilizer giant OCP Group and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) have announced an agreement seeking to address challenges hampering Africa’s agricultural potential.
The agreement was signed during the visit of USAID’s Administrator Samantha Power to the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic.
A press release from OCP said on Thursday that the agreement seeks to pursue two sustainable and innovative initiatives designed to boost agricultural efficiency and productivity across the continent.
The agreement, which covers four years, plans to engage other stakeholders and partners to take forward these groundbreaking initiatives and to encourage the adoption of the new tools by farmers across the continent.
OCP, through its subsidiary OCP Africa, will invest $30 million to support efficient fertilizer use across sub-Saharan Africa, complementing USAID’s $40 million investment to expand the Space to Place Project— one of the projects under the recently announced OCP-USAID agreement.
“This brings the total investment envelope to $100 million for this initiative, which directly supports the continental Action Plan that was adopted by the Nairobi Summit,” OCP stated in the release.
The Space to Place program will gather accurate local soil and climate data “which will provide the basis for a ‘Decision Support Tool’ to guide farmers on the optimal use of fertilizers.”
“These fertilizers will be customized to precisely meet the nutrient requirements of their land and crops, to simultaneously improve soil health and boost productivity sustainably,” OCP said.
The second project, the Rock Phosphate Amendment Project, will evaluate the impact on crop yields and soil fertility of the application of phosphate rock and innovative nutrient formulas based on it.
“This project will develop a ‘Phosphate Rock Decisions Support System’ to help farmers identify the soils and crops that will not benefit from this approach,” the statement added.
Commenting on the agreement, OCP’s CEO, Mostafa Terrab expressed satisfaction with deepening partnership with USAID.
“At OCP Group, we are delighted to deepen our partnership with USAID, collaborating closely on these cutting-edge projects to help unleash the potential of African farmers to feed not only Africa but the world, in ways that aim to enhance soil health, the environment, and the climate,” Terrab said.
On her part, Power also emphasized the importance of the partnership with OCP Group, noting that the agreement will use geospatial technology to offer farmers recommendations on how to more efficiently use fertilizers. “It harnesses data to provide real-world predictions and solutions to improve yields,” she insisted.
