adminElita Chikwati, Harare Bureau
The Government-initiated food security scheme, Command Agriculture, is under threat as the fertiliser industry is reportedly not receiving enough foreign currency to import raw materials crucial for the manufacture of the commodity, the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development heard yesterday.
It also emerged that some fertiliser companies have the raw materials and fertiliser in their warehouses held under colateral management agreement, but can only be accessed after paying creditors.
Our Harare Bureau has it on good authority that foreign suppliers had the active ingredients stocked in South Africa and Mozambique, waiting to be dispatched to Zimbabwe upon full payment.
The fertiliser companies appealed to Government to increase the amount of foreign currency allocation to enable them to complete their contractual obligations and save the crop grown under Command Agriculture.
Maize grown under the scheme is at different stages of growth, with the irrigated crop already above knee level.
The committee visited Omnia Fertiliser Zimbabwe plant in Banket and ZFC Limited in Harare to find out the challenges being faced by the industry in meeting fertiliser requirements for Government programmes.
Both companies said Government prioritised them on foreign currency, but were getting little amounts of money to import critical materials.
Committee chairman, Cde Christopher Chitindi, said he was happy that Government prioritised fertiliser production but said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe should increase its allocations so that the companies could produce more for Command Agriculture requirements.
“Compound fertilisers are now late. To date, ZFC has delivered only 20 000 tonnes of compound D, which is half of the target. We have also realised that contracts should be made early. For instance ZFC Ltd signed a contract on October 10 and this was rather late. Contracts should be signed early for early planning,” he said.
ZFC Ltd managing director, Dr Richard Dafana told the committee that the company required $6 million to complete their obligations under Command Agriculture.
He said the company was not operating at full capacity because of foreign currency challenges, as they constantly run out of raw materials.
Dr Dafana said the industry started experiencing foreign currency challenges mid-year.
“ZFC is on the top list of Government’s priority for foreign currency, but that does not mean we get the money we require. Recently, we received $100 000 from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, but still, we cannot meet our requirements.
“Our suppliers used to give us raw materials on credit but as we started experiencing challenges, they also started rationing the materials. Now they only release the materials after payment. We have fertiliser in stock but under the collateral management agreement, and we cannot use it as long as we have not made payments,” he said.
Mr Dafana said the company was also supplying other customers outside Command Agriculture, thereby stretching capacity.
“We are now producing from hand-to-mouth. Fertiliser companies should get the lion’s share of foreign currency especially now when we have an important cropping programme,” he said.
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