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Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (ZFU) second vice-president Mr Berean Mukwende said agrofirms were charging high prices for fertilisers, attributing this to high importation costs of raw materials.
“Government should remove duty on agricultural inputs and raw materials, so that prices would be low to farmers,” he said.

Mr Mukwende noted that agrofirms were charging US$28 per 50kg bag of either top dressing or compound D fertiliser.
He said other retailers charged higher prices of up to US$35 for the same 50kg bag.

Mr Mukwende commended manufacturers such as Windmill (Pvt) Ltd and Agriseeds for assisting farmers through input credit schemes.
“Although these firms are of great aid, they supply only 10 percent of the total number of farmers,” he said.

Mr Mukwende implored financial institutions to reduce interest rates on agrofinance for farmers to be able to acquire sufficient inputs.
“Banks are charging 38 percent interest rate per annum, and farmers are finding it difficult to borrow loans,” he said.

He said the few farmers who manage to borrow were finding it difficult to repay the loans.
He said interest rates should be reduced so that all farmers have sufficient working capital. — New Ziana.