RABAT (Reuters) – Madagascar is seeking an investment from Morocco in the fertiliser sector as part of its efforts to achieve farming self-sufficiency, President Andry Rajoelina said.
“We are seeking Moroccan fertilisers as well as investments in the fertilisers’ sector,” Rajoelina, who visited Morocco in October, told Reuters in an email.
Morocco’s state-owned phosphate and fertiliser producer OCP is building blenders across the continent to customise fertilisers, as well as soil nutrient and ammonia production plants in Nigeria and Ethiopia.
“We need the expertise of all, notably the Moroccan agri-food industry,” he said.
The setting up of a fertiliser production plant is “a priority” in Madagascar’s Emergence Plan, he said.
Some 80% of Malagasy people depend on 31% of Madagascar’s 8 million-hectare arable lands, he said.
OCP said in October it would allocate 4 million tonnes of fertilisers for the African market next year, double its sales on the continent in 2021.
Previously, in July, it said it was offering 180,000 tonnes of soil nutrients in aid and 370,000 tonnes at a discount to help African states cope with surging prices.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
