Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) Wheat Chairperson, […]

Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) Wheat Chairperson, Blair McLeod has indicated that local fertilizer blending has not yet reduced the price of fertilizer for farmers despite the establishment of blending plants in Zambia.

 Speaking in an interview with Zambian Business Times-ZBT, McLeod said fertilizer prices have remained high because local blending plants still depend on imported raw materials to produce the final products.

“The fact that we have got local blending and new fertilizer plants has not improved our pricing for fertilizer at all, so it has had no effect on the prices that farmers are paying,” he said.

McLeod noted that while fertilizer was now being blended locally, the country continued to import some of the key raw materials required in the manufacturing process, meaning the cost pressures associated with imports remained.

 He said most of the new fertilizer plants were still relatively new and were mainly blending imported materials in Zambia rather than producing all the required inputs locally.

 “Most of these new fertilizer plants are still new, and what they are doing is blending in Zambia, but the raw materials that come in are imported, so unless we find those raw materials locally, we will not be reducing the cost of fertilizer,” said McLeod.

Meanwhile, he stated that Zambia needs to develop its own sources of key fertilizer raw materials, particularly phosphate and potash, if local production was to have a meaningful impact on prices.

McLeod told ZBT that Zambia has the capacity to produce nitrogen locally but remains dependent on imported phosphate and potash, which continued to contribute to the cost of fertilizer supplied to farmers.

“Until Zambia finds more of its own phosphate and potash, and reduces the need to import those raw materials, local blending alone will not reduce our costs, although it is still a good thing because at least we are making fertilizer in Zambia rather than importing the finished product,” he said.

Article by Philip Sinkala