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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke

Senior Reporter

INVESTMENT into fertiliser production value chains could positively impact on prices and production of basic commodities as well as save the country millions of dollars in imports, President Mnangagwa has said.

This comes as Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries has made an investment into a new fertiliser blending plant which will increase local production of basal fertilisers.

Speaking at the official commissioning of the plant in Msasa, Harare yesterday, President Mnangagwa said the new blending plant was testimony that investors were responding to the clarion call for accelerated innovation, research and development.

“It will go a long way towards supporting our economy with expected multiplier effects in our agriculture value chain.

“Fertilisers increase plant productivity and development through boosting growth, accelerating maturation, enhancing resistance and improving the quality of fruits and seeds, leading to better harvests and earnings.

“They are a critical input for the achievement of yields that are required to feed a growing world population. Hence, without the addition of fertilisers, crop yields and agricultural productivity would be significantly reduced,” he said.

President Mnangagwa said the current high cost of fertilisers was a serious bottleneck for farmers, particularly communal farmers who barely afford it.

The new blending plant is expected to increase Zimphos’ production capacity to 200 000 tonnes of basal fertilisers per annum, which is enough to meet 50 percent of the current national demand for basal fertiliser. This will save the country over US$250 million per annum in fertiliser imports.

Owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there has been a shortage of fertilisers and the Government has been trying to increase local production to cover the gap.

President Mnangagwa said the project was one of many that the Government was operationalising under the five-year Fertiliser Import Substitution Roadmap.

“The investment by Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries comes at an opportune time as we prepare for the 2022/23 summer cropping season. Their entry into the production of fertiliser blends will result in increased competition, improved product quality and reduction in the unit cost of fertiliser to the farmer.

“It, therefore, deals with the issue of high levels of concentration in the fertiliser manufacturing sector, which has the potential for exertion of market power and tacit collusion among firms to the detriment of farmers,” he said.

Agricultural value chains are a key priority in the National Development Strategy 1 which seeks to transform the economy from being commodity-based to increasing locally manufactured value-added products.

President Mnangagwa said his Government would continue providing the necessary support to boost production and productivity at farm and household level.

“I exhort the private sector to complement Government efforts in investing in innovation to develop best practices and newer technologies that will help increase output per kg of fertiliser used. This includes investing in knowledge to ensure that the best suited fertiliser and quantity are applied to specific

crops.

“Over and above this, my Government is continually investing in agricultural research, extension and rural education to improve fertiliser use efficiency,” he said.

The President said the production of fertilisers alone was not a panacea for improved production and productivity in the agricultural sector but called for improvement in the supply chain efficiency, investment in transportation and market infrastructure, as well as research and extension services, managing price and production risk, facilitating rural finance and strengthening legal and regulatory institutions.

He said the Government would continue improving the business environment to grow private sector participation in the fertiliser value chain.

Zimphos, a subsidiary of Chemplex Corporation, is currently the country’s sole producer of phosphate fertilisers, aluminium sulphate for municipal water treatment, sulphuric acid and other industrial chemicals.

Chemplex acting chief executive Mr James Chigwende said a total investment of US$1,1 million had been made for the blending plant while another US$2,2 million had been channelled towards a granulation plant which would be installed by October.

“We will also be investing in another granulation plant for US$4,5 million and a phosphate conversion plant for US$3 million. Zimbabwe has huge deposits of phosphates and we decided that we need to beneficiate them into basal fertilisers and stop importing.

“The fertiliser blending plant was designed to take in the abundant supply of phosphate from Dorowa Mine but the plant there needs refurbishment. So we will need to sink about US$16 million into Dorowa to get the phosphate,” he said.

Once the second granulation plant and the conversion plant are on board, phosphates at Dorowa will be able to meet all the blending capacity in Zimbabwe.

Mr Chigwende said Chemplex was an investor in Sable Chemicals and they were currently refurbishing the plant there to produce 240 000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.

Once that has happened, he said, Zimphos would be able to double production to 430 000 tonnes by next year, enough to meet national demand of 400 000 tonnes of basal fertiliser.

“This fertiliser blender is versatile because it produces any type of basal fertiliser which can be tailor made to a customer, to the soil nutrients and the nutrients required by a specific region or farm,” Mr Chigwende added.

Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando said the plant would play a significant role in the agricultural food chain for the country to become self-sufficient.

“It is significant in the increase in the manufacturing capacity utilisation which has been going up monthly since the onset of the Second Republic. It is significant in terms of the value addition of our natural resources for exports and also for import substitution,” he said.

Industry and Commerce Minister Sekai Nzenza said the plant was a clear reflection of Vision 2030.

“Zimphos has adopted a technology to upgrade and retool. This strategy is seeing an increased local production of fertiliser which is timely because we are addressing the gap of fertiliser shortages being experienced across the globe. As a country we are resuscitating Zimphos using the latest technology. We are showing the synergies between industry, agriculture and mining,” she said.