“Lack of access to quality fertilizer result to post harvest loses making it difficult for the farmers to produce the required crop and compelled the government to spend much money to import to feed the nation.”

Mr Williams Boakye-Akyeapong, the Northern Regional Director of food and Agriculture gave the advice during a field day in Botanga in the Kumbungu District, which was organised by the Agricultural Manufacturing Group (AMG) and Iddisal Company Limited.

It was aimed at demonstrating the efficacy of a new NPK fertilizer product (NPK 25-10-10), which was introduced a year ago on cereals such as maize and rice to ensure a higher level of nitrogen to compliment the savannah soil to ensure optimum yields.

The new improved 25-10-10, which also comes with a polymer coating has the ability to sustain the slow release of the nutrients over a period of two to three months thereby providing a consistent availability of nutrients throughout the vegetative and reproductive stages of the plant.

Mr Boakye-Acheampong said the existing fertilizers on the market for farmers had lost their efficiency on the crops due to the continuous practice of bad farming methods on the field causing decline of nutrient in the soil.  This, he said had resulted to poor growth in plant leading to low crop yield and subsequently increasing food insecurity in the country.

He therefore emphasised the need for stakeholders in the fertilizer value chain to devise an innovative approach to address issues of poor soil fertility through the use of a more improved fertilizer.  Mr Henry Otoo-Mensah the General Manager of the Agricultural Manufacturing Group noted that, the introduction of the new improved 25-10-10 fertilizer was in response to concerns of farmers with regard to a previous fertilizers that affected their crop yield.

He reiterated his organisation’s commitment to engage with the research institutions to provide quality fertilizer that will boost the production levels of farmers.  Mr Otoo-Mensah hinted that Agricultural Manufacturing Group and Iddisal would soon release a new fertilizer product for top dressing known as Ammonium Sulphate Nitrate (ASN) with 26 per cent Nitrogen and 17 per cent Sulphur to enhance cereal production.

Dr. James Kombiok, tThe General Manager of Direct Farm Services, advised farmers not to apply the fertilizer on a dry field or immediately after a rainfall. He said it was necessary for farmers to adopt the dipping method during the fertilizer application to avoid the loss of nutrient for plant growth.

Some farmers who spoke to the GNA expressed satisfaction about the outcome of the fertilizer on the maize crop and expressed hope that the new fertilizer would yield good results.

The demonstration would be carried out in six other selected communities in the three Regions of the North including; Tumu in the Upper West Region, Tono and Vea in the Upper East region, and Botanga and Gollinga in the Northern Region as well as other unofficial sites.