• Ghana signs $5 billion agreement with Qatar’s Al Jedad Holdings for a fertilizer plant.
• Project to be built in Atuabo Petroleum Hub with Granum Limited, creating 2,000 jobs.
• The plant will reduce fertilizer imports and position Ghana among West Africa’s producers.

Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture announced yesterday a partnership with Qatari energy group Al Jedad Holdings to build a primary chemical fertilizer production plant at the Petroleum Hub in Atuabo, in the country’s western region.

The $5 billion project will be developed in partnership with agro-industrial group Granum Limited. According to local media outlet MyJoyOnline, construction is set to begin in October 2025, with commissioning expected within 32 months, or about three years.

Primary production involves processing raw materials such as natural gas and phosphate rock into chemical fertilizers including urea, ammonium sulfate, muriate of potash, and triple superphosphate.

“This project is about to begin. For the first time, Ghana will be producing fertilizers locally—specifically urea and ammonia at the Petroleum Hub in Atuabo. This will create over 2,000 direct jobs, especially for the youth,” said Foster Mawuli Benson, founder of Granum Agro Limited. No details on production capacity have yet been disclosed.

If completed, the project will make Ghana one of the few West African producers of primary chemical fertilizers, alongside Nigeria and Senegal. For Accra, the project represents a strategic move to reduce dependence on imports.

Until now, Ghana’s industry has mainly been limited to fertilizer blending plants using imported compounds. “There is no primary chemical fertilizer production in Ghana. Fertilizers are imported either as compounds or in bulk, and bulk fertilizers are then blended into different formulations and distributed through a network of agro-dealers,” the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) noted in a 2024 report on the country’s fertilizer industry.

According to IFDC, Ghana imported about 554,239 tons of fertilizer in 2024, ranking as the third-largest West African importer after Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. The shipments mainly consisted of NPK, urea, and triple superphosphate.