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Elita Chikwati Agriculture Reporter
The fertiliser industry has slowed down production owing to the low uptake by farmers, an official has said.
Fertiliser uptake has remained low despite the decline in prices since October.
Compound D is selling at $27,50 down from $32 and $35 per 50 kg a bag.
Fertiliser spokesman, who is also the chief executive of Chemplex, Mr Misheck Kachere yesterday said the industry was concerned with the stocks that had build up and was moving slowly.
“The uptake is still very bad when we compare with the last season. This poor uptake has been caused by the prediction of an El Nino and low rainfall activity. Of course farmers are also facing liquidity challenges but the major cause is the poor rainfall. Farmers make decisions in relation to the season’s rainfall pattern and this has affected our business,” he said.
Mr Kachere said farmers also made risk assessments before buying fertiliser.
“There are no queues at our depots like what used to happen during the corresponding period in the past seasons. We have slowed production. We used to run at 80 percent capacity but due to slow uptake we have scaled down to 60 percent.
“We have 100 000 tonnes of compounds and almost the same amount of ammonium nitrate and we are worried about the risk of maintaining these stocks,” he said.
Fertiliser prices have declined by 15 percent since October but this has not changed the uptake of the commodity.
The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) predicted normal to below normal rainfall during the 2015/2016 farming season with a likelihood of late start of the rains, coupled with a short rainfall season over December to February/March 2016.
Indications are that different regions will fare differently, and it will be necessary that for planning purposes farmers monitor MSD weather updates, as well as extension services department advisory warnings on planting, crop maturing varieties, including staggering of planting to spread risks.
Farmers have been urged to consider weather updates from the MSD to for guidance on farming operations, including choice of short season crop varieties, planting timings, application of fertilisers and pest control.
Online Reporter