Made-in-Ghana fertilizer marketed

Date:09-14-2009

A new brand of organic fertilizer produced from sawdust by a Ghanaian, is currently being marketed in Kumasi by K. Badu Agro Chemical Company. The product been approved by the Ghana Standards Board, and with the necessary support, would be produced on large scale for the Ghanaian market.

Mr. Agyemang Sarfo, General Manager of K. Badu Agro Chemical Co. Ltd., stated that the fertilizer, which was being packaged by the company, was very good, after various tests and experiments, hence their support. He further disclosed that they were able to produce and sell 3,000 bags of fertilizer last year, and had produced 6,000 bags this year, and said many farmers who have been purchasing the fertilizer always ask for that of the Ghanaian inventor.

Mr. Kwadwo Owusu, 55, and a native of Ejisu in the Ashanti Region, is behind the invention which comes from a process of transforming sawdust and garbage into organic fertilizer over three stages. Mr. Owusu said the first stage of the manufacture of the fertilizer takes place at a plant at Sokoban, a suburb of Kumasi, where the saw dust is burnt, together with palm nuts and other undisclosed substances into ashes for the final product.

Mr. Owusu stated that his invention was God given, and therefore divine, and intends training other people to continue when he takes a rest. According to him, there are no side effects on using the fertilizer. Mr. Owusu also disclosed that when it was tested on food products, it proved to be “chemical free,” unlike other brands of imported fertilizers.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Kofi Opoku-Manu, who visited the sites at Sokoban, a Kumasi suburb and Ejisu respectively last Thursday, has commended Mr. Owusu for the initiative. Minister Opoku-Manu was impressed by the fact that there was no smoke from the sawdust and garbage which was burnt, and there was no bad smell from the waste being burnt, meaning the manufacturing process was environmental friendly.

The Regional Minister extolled him for the invention, and assured him of the government’s commitment to ensuring that those with such talents would be encouraged to invent more discoveries. He urged people with hidden talents to explore them, since it could be beneficiary to the nation and the citizenry to patronize locally manufactured goods to discourage the importation of foreign products.