As Ghana celebrates her 63rd independence anniversary, there have been tremendous gains and accomplishments in the Economy whereas there have been other areas such as manufacturing which have faced challenges and have languished in the doldrums of economic mediocrity. One area, however, that has experienced a resurgence in recent years is in the area of agriculture.
It is no coincidence that under the auspices of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, with its flagship programme, Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) and the Special Rice Initiative (SRI) programme, the Agricultural Manufacturing Group (AMG) has emerged as one of the companies that is in the forefront of making gains and sustaining these gains in Agriculture.
One of the areas that has seen sustained growth is in the cocoa industry.
The Agricultural Manufacturing Group (AMG) Limited, since its inception, eight years ago, has contributed its significant quota towards improving crop production in Ghana. As the country’s leading importer of fertilizer, AMG has played a critical role in Feeding Ghana by helping farmers and clients to increase their yield through sustainable agricultural practices. Our few years of operations have seen massive innovation and creativity on the Ghanaian fertilizer market as we have positively influenced the dynamics of crop nutrition with the introduction of our enhanced efficiency fertilizers ( EEF)
Notable among these is the ENHANCED EFFICIENCY FERTILIZER, the AMG NPK “COCOA NTI” FERTILIZER. This has been hailed as a major breakthrough in cocoa plant nutrition. This product is a 100% cocoa fertilizer, fortified with rich nutrients that are capable of sustaining high yields of cocoa trees. The development of this product followed the identification of the need for an improvement in cocoa production.
Beyond this great accomplishment, AMG has also shown its commitment to improving the economic lives of farmers (especially cocoa farmers) and to helping the nation to augment its much-needed foreign reserves. However, in spite of the impact of cocoa on the Ghanaian economy, a critical assessment of the trend of cocoa production in the country revealed yields of 835,000metric tonnes in 2012/2013 crop season to 968,000metric tonnes. This fell short of the 1million metric tonnes output in 2011. In 2019 however, the Ghana Cocobod estimated a production yield of 2million metric tonnes which could not be achieved.
Nevertheless, as a customer-oriented company, AMG has constantly engaged in putting its weight behind the Ghana Cocobod and all the other key stakeholders in the cocoa production value chain, towards improving cocoa production in Ghana. Based on the reported yield of farmers from the use of the Cocoa Nti Fertilizer, AMG is very confident that in the 2020/2021 crop season, Ghana will be able to achieve its 2 million target.
In addition to earlier mentioned efforts, AMG is continuously involved in training farmers in good agricultural practices in order to insure productivity.
This year, AMG is introducing a Crop Prescription Blending Facility which is set to produce crop specific fertilizers to address the varying nutritional needs of crops and soils in the country. This will significantly improve crop production and the economic lives of farmers.
On this 6th day of March, 2020, as the country commemorates its Independence Day, AMG wishes to extend its best wishes to all farmers, clients and all our various stakeholders. Enjoy a happy national holiday. AMG remains committed to all patriots of this great nation and entreat all and sundry to put in their very best, towards advancing the good course of this nation.
From the management and staff of the Agricultural Manufacturing Group Limited; Congratulations and a Happy 63RD Independence Day to you all.