ZIMBABWE has run out of top dressing fertiliser (ammonium nitrate) as manufacturers are failing to access adequate foreign currency to import the essential raw materials.
This has left thousands of farmers, especially communal farmers who are not part of the government-run Command Agriculture Scheme, in jeopardy amid indications that yields might fall drastically due to the shortage of ammonium nitrate (AN).
The country requires about 100 000 tonnes of AN fertiliser every year.
Owing to the acute foreign currency shortages blighting the domestic financial markets, fertiliser manufacturers are failing to make foreign payments due to foreign currency shortages.
In fact, all sectors of the economy have been affected by the shortage of foreign currency because the country is not exporting enough products in order to meet its foreign currency requirements.
The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) was this week livid over the shortages of AN fertiliser saying manufacturers should have anticipated the huge demand for the product based on predictions for good rains this season.
ZCFU president, Wonder Chabikwa, said fertiliser manufacturers did not ramp up production despite there being indications that the country and region would receive good rains.
“The truth is, we are very disappointed that AN has disappeared from the market. As farmers, we have always known the capacity of our area, requirements and inputs, and all these companies know all this,” said Chabikwa.
“Is is going to be a disappointing season if farmers don’t apply top dressing (fertiliser) on crops because with the good rains AN is the much-needed input right now”.
Fears are that poor output in agriculture could have a domino effect on the rest of the economy, especially the manufacturing sector, which takes up more than 60 percent of the produce from farmers.
Fertiliser industry spokesperson, Misheck Kachere, told the Financial Gazette this week that the industry was in dire straits after failing to access enough foreign currency to import ammonia, a key ingredient in the manufacture of AN fertiliser.
Said Kachere: “The major challenge in manufacturing and importation of fertilisers this season is that we no longer have access to foreign currency and it is difficult to import the much-needed ingredients for the products.”
Stranded farmers, who are queuing up day and night at fertiliser manufacturing plants in Harare, are blaming government for poor planning.
Last year, government launched the Command Agriculture Scheme, which prioritised 2 000 commercial farmers at the expense of communal farmers who had been accessing all imputs free of charge under the presidential input scheme.
It is these communal farmers who have been dealt a body blow by the shortage of AN fertiliser as the commercial farmers have wiped out all available top dressing fertiliser on the market, leaving them in a bind.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Joseph Made
The 2 000 farmers enlisted under the Command Agricultural Scheme aim to produce two million tonnes of maize from 400 000 hectares of land to ensure food security and reduce dependency on imports.
Under the land reform programme, government parcelled out land to over 300 000 indigenous farmers.
While demand for both compound D and AN fertilisers has generally increased due to the good rains this summer season, incessant heavy rains across most parts of the country have increased demand for fertilisers as leeching threatens to significantly lower yields especially in communal areas that have traditionally contributed up to 80 percent of the total staple maize crop produced in the country.
Disaster looms for the communal and other farmers who are not part of the Command Agriculture Scheme as they struggle to access top dressing fertiliser.
For the communal farmers whose soils have since lost fertility through years of intensive cultivation, top dressing — which greatly improves plant nutrition and boosts yields — determines a good or poor harvest.
Farmers from different parts of the country have expressed concern over the unavailability of fertiliser on the market.
Vincent Musabayana, a farmer from Masvingo, said he had to travel to Harare after fertiliser stocks ran out in his province. But he too found the product out of stock in the capital.
Melody Mugofa from Mutare said government had prioritised farmers who signed up for the command agriculture programme forgetting the bulk of communal farmers who also contribute to the country’s food security.
“It is not a secret that those that are part of the command agriculture programme wiped out all the fertiliser on the market because they were prioritised by the government.
“This is a crucial time for us farmers to be making sure that we improve plant nutrition so as to boost our yields, but the input to achieve that (top dressing) is nowhere to be found. If the situation continues like this, things could go wrong at the end of this season,” said Mugofa.
Severino Machingauta, who also farms in Manicaland, blamed the command agriculture programme for the prevailing countrywide fertiliser shortage.
“Personally, I think command agriculture is largely to blame for the shortage of fertiliser this season, because the government did not advise manufacturers to increase production. Manufacturers went on to manufacture the same tonnage used every year by farmers,” he said.-FINGAZ
