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| National |
| Government meets suppliers on fertiliser crisis |
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by
Bright Sonani, 15 December 2004
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11:40:07
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Government has called for an emergency meeting with fertiliser manufacturers, all farm input suppliers and transporters following a critical shortage of the commodity which has hit the country.
The fertiliser shortage has been attributed to logistic hiccups on Mozambican transit routes caused by the current uncertainty in that country following the disputed general elections won by the ruling Frelimo Party, delays at some of the entry points and congestion at the South African port of Durban.
Agriculture Deputy Minister Sidik Mia said in an interview on Tuesday his ministry has decided to meet all the players in the distribution of fertiliser to find ways of solving the crisis.
“What we want to do is to assure them that if they have any problems whether logistical or whatever they should let us know so that we can come in and assist them,” he said.
Mia admitted that part of the problem stems from poor timing in placing fertiliser orders.
“But at the moment we are not really looking at what or who caused the problem, we are looking at the crisis and how we can move forward. I think we have learnt from these things and next time we would do better planning,” he added.
The meeting is scheduled at 3.00PM at the ministry’s headquarters in Lilongwe on Wednesday.
Secretary for Agriculture Andrew Daudi also said during their weekly meeting with the input suppliers on Tuesday the fertiliser shortage was discussed.
“We discussed the shortage at length and some of them have indicated that they would have fertiliser such as Urea and CAN ready by Christmas,” said Daudi after Tuesday’s meeting.
He said the meeting cited logistic problems and congestion in ports of entry as well as the unrest in Mozambique as some of the problems leading to the shortage.
“In Beira the fertiliser was stuck for almost a week because of the unrest but the situation has now improved,” he said.
Daudi said some fertiliser was also stuck at Beit Bridge in South Africa while some more has been delayed at Nyamapanda in Mozambique and discussions were currently underway with authorities in those countries to give a priority to Malawi fertiliser.
He also said the increase in the number of beneficiaries to the TIP and also the increase in the size of the packs from 10 to 25 kilogrammes has worsened the situation.
Daudi, however, said despite the shortage which is likely to affect the TIP, government is still optimistic that it will meet its target of finishing distribution by the first week of January next year since the programme has already reached out to over 50 per cent of the targeted beneficiaries.
Among the suppliers in Tuesday’s meeting were manufacturers Yara Limited and Optichem as well as the input suppliers, with some of them serving both commercial and the Target Input Programme (TIP).
According to inside sources at the two fertiliser manufacturing companies—Yara and Optichem—the two have no stocks of Urea and 23:21:0 which is essential this time of the growing season.
The two types are mainly used soon after planting.
A source at Yara indicated that the company has only stocks of other types of fertilisers which farmers will only need at a later stage or for other crops apart from maize.
Yara Limited managing director Victoria Kilan refused to comment on the situation at her company.
Some sources have indicated that the problem was mainly due to late importation of fertiliser and raw materials, coinciding with the elections in neighbouring Mozambique.
“Any election period is volatile and we should have been mindful of that and made our orders in time,” said one of the sources.
Any further delay in the availability of fertiliser is likely to have a severe effect on the already troubled TIP which was delayed, forcing some farmers to start planting locally sourced seeds.
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