FSG seeks financial support

CLOUDINE MATOLA

Fertiliser Seed Grain (FSG) is appealing to the Zimbabwe Government for financial support  for the company to  pay suppliers  of  raw materials that are currently held under agreements for collateral managements, Business times can report.

Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of Superfert fertiliser company in Bindura this week, FSG general manager Sean Durrad said: “So I won’t comment on that directly, but yes, we need support from the ministries to help us unlock the product. We do have creditors that have allowed us to bring the product into the country, and now we need the support from the local ministries to unlock that product so we can deliver it into the programs. We have a product on site, but a lot of that product is under collateralized management agreements,” Durrad said.

However, he claimed that with 45,000 tons of raw materials stored in the Bindura site, the company was prepared for the upcoming farming season.

“We are fully prepared to deliver into not only the Presidential Input Scheme, but also other programs.

“We have about 45,000 tons of product, raw materials, that are waiting here at the Bindura facility, just waiting to be distributed.

“On top of that, we have more products that is in all the ports, Baira, Nakala, Maputo, and of course, Walvis Bay. That product is raw material that goes into the making of basil, as well as the top dressing that is necessary for the COTTCO, the PIP, the commercial, and the retail sector,” he said.

Professor Obert, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, stated that suppliers require roughly US$1.6bn in funding for the summer planting season due to the enormous demand for fertilizer.

“So certainly we have this huge need for fertilizer, the quantities are quite huge. If you make the calculations for 300,000 metric tons times roughly US$600 a ton, that gives you the amount of money that the government is outlaying. And from some reports, you could hear reports of US$1.6bn support required for summer programming.

“So those are the amounts of support that suppliers like this require. So certainly we need to support them in terms of financing, we need to support them in terms of the logistics, and also support them in terms of giving moral support that when they do their job, they are doing it for the country. But yes, we are providing all the support that they need,” he said.

He added:”So on the Presidential Input Scheme, which is what we support, we are looking at around 150,000 metric tons of compound D, 150,000 metric tons of top dressing fertilizer, and almost 30,000 metric tons of the cotton blend.

“So that’s all the government programs which we are supporting. But we also have our babies, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) program looking at a further 40,000 hectares that they are also needing from these suppliers. We do have enough suppliers.”