Yara Ghana Limited, a leading name in the fertilizer industry in Ghana has won the Agro Input Company of the year and Agro Input Brand of the year at the second edition of the Ghana Cocoa Awards held in Accra recently.

The company’s input package for cocoa which is the Asaase Wura and YaraLiva Nitrabor were shortlisted among other cocoa fertilizer inputs and companies for the two competitive categories and came out tops at the event.

The award was received by the West African Regional Director of Yara International, Mr. Danquah Addo-Yobo.

Commenting on the award, he stated that Yara Ghana is pleased with the recognition received so far, especially after winning the Input Company of the year award for the second time running and the Agro Input Brand of the year in the second edition.

This, he said, will encourage Yara Ghana to continue with its support of the cocoa sector through the provision of quality nutrition solutions and agronomic support for cocoa farmers.

Yara has played a pioneering role in the fertilizer input within the Ghanaian economy especially in the cocoa industry with the introduction of Asaase Wura cocoa fertilizer in 2005.

This venture involved a huge investment into an otherwise uncharted territory in the cocoa sector by then, showing Yara’s commitment to and believe in growing the industry in Ghana.

The introduction of the Asaase Wura cocoa fertilizer helped improve cocoa farmers yields and profitably quite significantly.

"Results from several demonstration farms across cocoa growing areas have shown that Asaase Wura and Nitrabor package has consistently shown an average percentage yield increase of 50% for the plots that had Asaase Wura and Nitrabor applied compared to the traditional farmer practice plots," the Regional Director further intimated.

Yara Ghana has not rested on its oars but has over the years continued to be of significance to the cocoa farming community through several interventional programs to enable cocoa farmers to achieve the best results.

These have included capacity building for farmers and agro dealers focusing on the Yara Crop Nutrition concept which focuses on the right application of fertilizers: right nutrients, right time and right place and right rate in order to optimize yield in an environmentally sustainable manner.

"Along with our distribution and retail partners, Yara also organizes Crop Clinics and training programmes and reaches thousands of cocoa farmers every year through the Healthier Cocoa Campaigns. Several thousands of farmers have been trained over the past years under this program" he further added.

Mr. Addo-Yobo further took the opportunity to acknowledge the collaboration and support of the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) regarding trials on Asaase Wura and Nitrabor and the Ghana Cocoa Board and reiterated that Yara Ghana will continue to support the Ghana Cocoa Board in its drive to improve the sector.

The Ghana Cocoa Awards which is an initiative of VC Media Limited recognizes and celebrates outstanding achievements in the Ghana cocoa value chain with this being the second edition. The finalists were drawn from a total of 155 entries filed by individuals, companies and institutions operating within the Ghana cocoa value chain.

82 award nominees were shortlisted for the 2nd Ghana Cocoa Award.

The Awards were made up of 31 competitive categories including Agro Input, Ecotourism, Research, Production, Internal Marketing, Cocoa Financing, Processing, Artisanal Value Addition, Innovation, Journalism, Sustainability and Leadership. A number of individuals and organisations were also accorded Special Recognition in leadership and Covid-19 humanitarian efforts.