Global firm invests $20 million in Dar es Salaam fertilizer terminal

Last Updated 15 years ago by Kenya Engineer

Norwegian Global chemical firm Yara International ASA will in August this year start the construction  of a $20 million fertilizer terminal in Tanzania. Yara was established in Norway as Norsk Hydro in 1905  as the world’s first producer of mineral nitrogen fertilizers and in 2004 it emerged from Norsk Hydro as Yara International ASA by which time it had spread, by acquisition of major chemical companies, throughout Europe, Asia and Americas as a global chemical company encompassing the production of nitrates ammonia, urea and other nitrogen-based chemicals. In the late 1990s it was established in South Africa.

The terminal with a storage capacity of 45,000 tonnes of different ranges of fertilizer will be built near Dar es Salaam port  to cater for the needs of farmers  and spur the recently launched Kilimo Kwanza (Agricultural first) project in Tanzania.

This initiative will boost the country’s food security and cushion farmers against costly imports. The new facility will be used to receive bulk products, bag and distribute fertilizer to neighbouring countries. Most of the fertilizer will be imported from Norway. Currently Tanzania produces about 85,000 metric  tonnes of fertilizer for sale mainly inTanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

However, Jorgen Ole Halsesttaad, the chief executive of Yara International said recently that   the agricultural sector in Tanzania has the potential to be a key driver of economic growth  providing business opportunities as Tanzania stands out as a natural hub for regional growth.

Investing in increased port capacity positions the company for growth.  This is a strategic step for Yara, and at the same time is an investment in a vital step in the value chain, preparing for increased fertilizer volumes in productivity as the agricultural sector picks up.

Yara has been a partner in the agricultural sector in Tanzania since 2006  and instrumental in the process leading to the formation of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor  of Tanzania (SAGCCOT), SAGCCOT  is driven by a partnership between public and private companies  and donor agencies aimed at reducing poverty through provision of opportunities  for smallholder farmers.

In a recently released Blueprint for Investment, SAGCCOT outlines how a shared value creation approach can be used to tackle some of the key constraints  to development.

The result, over a 20 year period, would be over 350,000 hectares under commercial production,  much of it farmed by emergent and smallholder  farmers, boosting agricultural production in the region  thus ensuring food security for Tanzania and the wider region lifting two million people out of poverty and bringing in  annual revenues of about $1.4 billion.