Research into the chemical industry and fertilizers in West Africa: the formulation of data in regard to planning.

Abstract

This particular study is a follow-up of recommendations made at the Bamako Conference, and its aim is to indicate the favorable prospects for industrial development in West Africa. Attention was drawn from the very outset to the need for establishing co-operation between the various countries in a given zone, in order to enable them to set up basic industries designed, for instance, for the manufacture of metallurgical products and fertilizers. These reports were examined by the sixth session held at Addis Ababa from 19 February to 3 March 1964 as well as by the Bamako Conference. They emphasized the interest attaching to the chemical industry as a starting point for industrialization, The manufacture of fertilizers would, in particular, make it possible to sustain the effort made in the field of agriculture towards increasing the yields of crops, raising the living standard of the people and freeing manpower for industrial development, and at the same time economizing foreign currency.