Indorama empowers Nigerian farmers through training

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The Head, Sales and Marketing, Indorama, S. K. Srivastsava, said the initiative is geared towards supporting and empowering Nigeria in the advancement of food security, enhance farm production and fulfil the objectives of the Nigerian Government in diversifying the economy.</p> <p>

To ensure food security as well as provide more opportunities, Indorama Eleme Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited, said it has engaged highly qualified experts for farmer-training and education initiatives with a view to increasing crop yield in Nigeria.
  
The Head, Sales and Marketing, Indorama, S. K. Srivastsava, said the initiative is geared towards supporting and empowering Nigeria in the advancement of food security, enhance farm production and fulfil the objectives of the Nigerian Government in diversifying the economy.

Under the terms, the experts would carry out field demonstrations, farmers’ meetings, seminars, exhibitions, conferences, farmers’ service centres and free advisory services at call centres. They will also collaborate with Nigeria’s agriculture research institutions on soil testing, pest control and a host of others. 

Srivastsava said Indorama, a solid international company, is fast emerging as a Global brand in helping farmers improve their crop yield through the provision of quality fertilisers to help Nigeria feed its over 170 million people.
 
He noted that in Nigeria, agriculture is not being taken seriously, which shouldn’t be, because it should be treated as a business, saying that Nigeria has the potential in terms of vast arable land and good climatic condition, but farmers are not using sufficient Agri-inputs. And because of that, there is depletion of nutrients from soil, and farmers not getting the desired crop yield.
  
He said the real challenge is that the average farmer needs to be informed and educated about the benefits and advantages of using fertiliser in cultivation. And how Indorama has taken the bull by the horns to educate and improve farmer agronomic practices and to make genuine fertiliser available to Nigerian farmers.  
  
Furthermore emphasising that Nigeria must improve its national average farm productivity, average farmer yields and increase food production to feed its teeming population, and avert a food crisis in the immediate future; increasing fertiliser use is necessary to achieve all of this.

Srivastsava elaborates on the necessity of fertiliser increase by farmers, explaining that most soil lack required nutrients. Fifty per cent of crop yield therefore depends on the Nitrogen fertiliser for a good harvest, meaning that if the farmer uses nutrients as per the crop requirement, and can double yield. Increased yield will increase food supply and the country will be food secure, and the best security of the nation is food security.
  
As a result farmers are experiencing increased profitability, and their output has increased more than 25-30 per cent because of application of Indorama Urea in some of the crops like maize, rice, sorghum, tomato, and the rest.

Affirming the huge amount spent by the Nigerian Government in importing fertilisers for farmers across the 36 states, and how such dependence is now set to be a thing of the past, as Indorama has helped the country through import substitution and conserving of foreign exchange (forex).