Aminu Hanga spent much of February adjusting to temperatures of minus 24 degrees. He had travelled to Ukraine from the sweltering heat of Kano in search of fertiliser. He hoped that he would be picked as one of the lucky suppliers to receive a 25 per cent Nigerian federal government rebate designed to encourage a flood of subsidised inputs before this year’s planting season.

Using more than 30 years experience as an engineer, shipping agent and trader, Mr Hanga secured $12m in financing. With it he shipped about 15,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser from Odessa to Lagos on March 29.