Online Reporter
Business Reporter
A multi-million-dollar machine procured to boost Zimbabwe’s fertiliser self-sufficiency is lying idle and deteriorating at Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries (ZimPhos), after the company failed to secure installation funds, a Parliamentary investigation has revealed.
The revelation comes at a time when the country’s dependence on foreign suppliers remains high, with national data showing that Zimbabwe has spent over US$2 billion on fertiliser imports between 2018 and 2024.
According to a report by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce on the fertiliser value chain, ZimPhos acquired a specialised granulator for US$1,7 million in 2021 to resolve market rejection of its primary product.
ZimPhos is owned by Chemplex Corporation, a subsidiary of the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe (IDCZ), which now falls under the Mutapa Investment Fund
ZimPhos general manager, Mr Phillip Nyakudziwanza, told lawmakers that local fertiliser blending companies had consistently refused to buy Single Super Phosphate (SSP) from the company because it was delivered in powder form, a format incompatible with modern production systems.
The SSP can either be sold directly as a fertiliser or further processed and blended into NPK basal fertiliser.
The 120 000-tonne-per-annum granulator was procured to convert the powder into granules, allowing ZimPhos to manufacture finished NPK fertilizers directly and cut dependence on imported raw materials like Diammonium Phosphate and Monoammonium Phosphate.
However, when the Parliamentary committee visited the facility, the lawmakers discovered that the US$1,7 million machine remained completely uninstalled and “rotting” on the factory site.
Management disclosed that the equipment has sat idle simply because the company has been unable to raise an additional US$1,3 million required for its installation.
The granulator sits alongside a separate US$1,1 million fertiliser blending plant—capable of producing 200 000 tonnes per year—which was fully installed but remains constrained by operational capital bottlenecks.
