Kenya is set to receive the first batch of Moroccan fertilizers to boost its agricultural output. El Mokhtar Ghambou, Morocco’s former ambassador to Kenya confirmed the report and said from next week, fertilizer will start arriving in Kenya in batches to meet the half-price promised by President Willian Samoei Ruto.
The Moroccan diplomat added that the Kenyan president had promised to bring in Moroccan fertilizers to lower the commodity’s retail price from Sh6500 ($53.92) to Sh3,500 ($29.05). Last week, Kenya’s newly elected president revoked his country’s recognition of the Polisario’s self-proclaimed Sahrawi republic (SADR) in a move that aligned with his long-standing endorsement of Morocco’s stance in the Western Sahara dispute.
Ruto’s decision was warmly welcomed by the Kenyan political elite, and many in Morocco considered it another milestone in the country’s largely effective African diplomacy. A joint statement by Morocco and Kenya followed Ruto’s tweet that first broke the news. The statement read: “Kenya rescinds its recognition of the SADR and initiates steps to wind down the entity’s presence in the country.”
Bilateral cooperation
Ruto further pledged to reinforce bilateral cooperation with Morocco in key sectors in an effort to address pressing issues facing the East African country including food insecurity. Prior to the recent diplomatic rapprochement between Rabat and Nairobi, Kenya has been importing fertilizers from Saudi Arabia and Russia due to the state’s formal recognition of the self-proclaimed separatist Sahrawi republic.
However, the East African country is now turning to Morocco given the ongoing global shortage of fertilizers. The North African kingdom is home to over 70% of the world’s phosphate rock reserves and houses OCP Group, one of the largest fertilizer companies. Given the disruption of Russian and Ukrainian exports of fertilizers, OCP is currently dominating the global fertilizer market.
The group reported $5.29 billion in revenues in the first half of 2022, and the number is expected to increase over the upcoming months as Fitch Rating forecasts an increase in the price of Moroccan fertilizers in 2023 led by rising global demand. Kenya, which imported over 10% of Russian fertilizers in 2021, is among the African countries that were directly impacted by the ongoing war in Ukraine, according to the Financial Times (FT).
Citing a June study by the International Food Policy Research Institute, FT said that “higher prices, particularly for fertilizer will reduce gross domestic product by 0.8 per cent and increase poverty rates in Kenya.”
