LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
A serious shortage of fertilisers has hit Zimbabwe sparking fears that this could affect this year’s crop production levels, the country’s farmers organisations have said.
They say a poor farming season would have a devastating effect on the country which has been hoping for better fortunes this year. The Treasury has projected a 5.5% GDP growth anchored by agriculture and mining.
The Zimbabwe Farmers Union secretary general Paul Zakariya said top dressing fertiliser is in short supply and the little that is available is very expensive and beyond the reach of many farmers.
“Heavy rains since the start of the year have caused water logging resulting in the washing away of nutrients there by requiring more fertiliser, which is in short supply, hence this erodes profit margins of the farmer due to high production costs,” Zakariya said.
He said top-dressing fertiliser in bonded warehouses has to be cleared and released so that it is readily available.
Zimbabwe requires about 550 000 tonnes of fertiliser per season with Compound D being 300 000 tonnes and about 250 000 tonnes of top dressing fertiliser also known as Ammonia Nitrate.
The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Shadreck Makombe said the scarcity and the unaffordability will hamper the projected output.
“Top dressing fertiliser is a global challenge but our local situation is worsened by the fertiliser that is stationed at various bonded warehouses,” Makombe said.
“The very little that we have in the country is very expensive and makes farming unsustainable. This will eat into farmers’ profit even those contracted under Command Agriculture as high fertiliser quantities threaten viability as some farmers will be left with high debts due to high costs of production.”
ZFC managing director Richard Dafana said raw materials for top dressing fertiliser have skyrocketed on the global market.
“The prices for top dressing fertilisers as well as other fertiliser raw materials, have been on an upward trajectory on the global market throughout 2021. This trend persists and is not peculiar to Zimbabwe alone but to the rest of the world,” Dafana said.
“Prices for nitrogen products have gone up by over 250% compared to the previous season. The main driver of the increase has been the supply chain disruptions that occurred in the main producing countries following the disturbances brought by Covid-19.”
He said the cost of logistics also contributed to the increased cost.
“To make fertilisers more affordable, the country must prioritise use of the available production capacities and be more self-reliant and hence reduce external shocks. This will also reduce the foreign currency required for importation.
“The necessary importations should be made at the time when international prices are at their lowest,” Dafana said.
The high costs of fertiliser is threatening the gains that have been made to salvage the 2021/2022 summer cropping season.
The top dressing fertiliser prices have risen sharply. A 50kg bag of fertiliser is now selling at ZWL$10 000 from ZWL$7400 in December 2021.
Windmill CEO, George Rundogo, said the high prices were something beyond the control of the fertiliser manufacturer.
“We wanted fertiliser prices to be very affordable but the spiking of top-dressing fertilisers on the international market is worrisome hence we have no option but to import at such high prices because there is huge demand on the local market,” Rundogo said.
“Besides, the hike in international prices and the shipment costs have also gone up significantly therefore this had ripple effects to our costing of the top-dressing fertiliser.”
He said the price hikes have nothing to do with the volatile environment that the country is currently experiencing but events in foreign markets.
“At the moment, we are getting all our requirements at the foreign currency auction system and letters of credit [LCs] hence the rampaging parallel exchange rate is not affecting us in any way,” Rundogo said.
Analysts said the high prices and scarcity of fertiliser could affect the projected 3m tonnes of cereal in 2022.
They said inputs should be distributed to the farmers but authorities are still distributing basal fertiliser this time of the year.
The prices will be high as most African countries will be competing for the same product.
This year, crops did not consume much basal fertiliser as there was a dry spell but top dressing is in huge demand as the country experienced heavy rains since the start of January 2022.
