Yara injects $20m into Tanzania’s economy

Yara International ASA, a leading global fertilizer company is injecting US$20m into Tanzania’s economy to fuel the country’s agricultural growth.
The amount according to company officials would be invested into a new fertilizer terminal by the port in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s commercial city.
Announcing the feat on Thursday in Dar es Salaam, CEO of Yara, Joergen Haslestad said “This strengthens Yara’s long term commitment to development of Tanzania’s agricultural sector. In the years to come the agricultural sector has the potential to be a key driver of economic growth, providing business opportunities. Tanzania stands out as a natural hub for regional growth.”
Yara believes that investing in increased port capacity is a strategic step that would position the company for the growth it has long been yearning for whilst providing a boost in the value chain.
Yara presently supplies 120,000 tons of fertilizer annually to the region. The new terminal will have a revolving storage capacity of 45,000 tons of fertilizer, which will be sufficient for the medium term requirement, and the location allows for new capacity to be added for long term requirements.
Sustainable growth
The initiative raises a promise of sustainable growth, aiming at reducing rural poverty both through providing opportunities for smallholder farmers and creating new jobs, says Mr. Haslestad.
Officials of the company estimate that the US$20million investment in Tanzania would lift two million people out of poverty, and bring in annual revenues of US$1.4billion.
Yara has been a partner in the Tanzania Agriculture Partnership since 2006 and was also instrumental to the process leading to the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT).
The SAGCOT is driven by a unique partnership of public, private and donor companies and organizations.
In the recently released ‘Blueprint for Investment’, the SAGCOT 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.
Yara International ASA is the world’s leading chemical company that converts energy, natural minerals and nitrogen from the air into essential products for farmers and industrial customers.