K+S teams up with NGO to help Ugandan farmers

Germany-based fertilizer giant K+S AG (SDF-F) has signed a co-operation agreement with Sasakawa Africa Association in an effort to help farmers in Uganda.

Their stated objective is to improve the productivity, self-sufficiency and income of small-scale farmers in the East African nation.

K+S says it will share its expertise in fertilization through a planned agricultural consultancy service in the country that will help farmers.

“We are delighted to be able to launch the aid project together with our competent partner, Sasakawa, and we firmly believe that the farmers and people in Uganda, as well as we ourselves, will benefit from this over the long-term,” said Norbert Steiner, K+S chairman. 

The two partners want to establish a mobile teaching unit to train plant cultivation consultants, amongst others. They will also develop best management practices for cultivating regionally typical crops, such as corn and cassava. Their focus will include produce that ensures farmers are fed, as well as income-generating crops. 

The company hopes the project will transfer knowledge that both sides can benefit from over the long-term. K+S says it will gain familiarity with the situation of small-scale farmers on the ground, and insight on how local markets work. With this knowledge, it can better tailor the goods that it offers for African needs over the long-term. 

Uganda has agricultural development potential that should be tapped into, K+S says. The country has good-quality soil, with a composition similar to Brazil’s, although it may be lacking in such important nutrients as potassium, and only a minority of the fields are irrigated. About one-third of Uganda’s rapidly growing population of 35 million people live in poverty, and 8 million lack food security. Sixty-six percent of the population lives in the countryside, and are self-sufficient.

K+S extracts 7.5 million tonnes of potash and magnesium products from six producing mines in Germany, and is building the Legacy potash mine in Saskatchewan, which is expected to start production in 2015. The company is also the world’s leading salt producer, with a production capacity of 30 million tonnes.