New investment to ease food crisis

(2008-09-24) Innovative agricultural investment to be announced at the UN Private Sector Forum by CEO of Yara International, Thorleif Enger.

A $60m investment by Yara International to build fertilizer terminals in two crucial African ports in Tanzania and Mozambique, aims to improve port efficiencies significantly for agricultural commodities and act as a catalyst for wider agricultural growth across the region. This innovative project will be launched at the UN Private Sector Forum, September 24, in New York. It marks the beginning of deeper collaboration between the United Nations and the private sector to address the global food crisis and scale up support for the Millennium Development Goals.

Improving the ports in Beira and Dar es Salaam will make fertilizer imports and infrastructure management more cost effective, efficient and competitive. Tanzania has one of the lowest uses of fertilizer in sub-Saharan Africa and without improved port facilities neither Tanzania nor Mozambique nor any of the surrounding regions will be able to meet their agricultural growth targets.

Yara International is committed to action, but cannot spark true sustainable development on its own. That is why Yara is aiming for the ports to act as regional hubs, triggering new investments along the value chain to create Agriculture Growth Corridors. These regional corridors will link up government, multilaterals and private sector partners to invest in broader social and economic issues including: improved rail & road networks servicing rural areas; increased agro dealer development, enhanced rural agricultural credit and greater farmer field school promotion.

Yara’s CEO Thorleif Enger in announcing this flagship initiative at the UN Private Sector Forum in New York says, “At the current pace, it is estimated that Africa will be able to feed less than half of its population by 2015. Business can be a principal motor for development in the agricultural sector and Yara is focused on making new investments that have the potential to catalyze growth for years to come.”