Posted on March, 14, 2022 at 07:09 am
TANZANIA Fertilizer Regulatory Authority (TFRA), has warned traders against hiking fertilizer prices for more than 50 percent, noting that the government is considering reinstating indicative price for the product.
The government through the Agriculture Ministry suspended the use of indicative price for fertilizer in July last year in order to increase competition and availability of the farm input to farmers.
TFRA Executive Director, Dr Stephan Ngailo said on Saturday in Dar es Salaam that some unscrupulous traders have been hiking the price arbitrarily while there was no new consignment of fertilizer which has been imported into the country that could change the price.
"There is no reason for traders to increase the price of fertilizer because the price of the available consignment has not changed .... the government will revoke licenses of traders who hike the price of the product," Dr Ngailo said yesterday in a meeting with fertilizer dealers.
Dr Ngailo said that fertilizer prices have been going up since the traders were given the freedom of selling the product by considering the market price, but they have abused the opportunity by selling it at a higher price than the market price which affects the farmers.
He informed the traders that the government is reconsidering reinstating indicative prices because they want to maximize profit at the expense of farmers.
Dr Ngailo noted that indicative prices will be reintroduced on four main fertilizers, including Urea, DAP, CAN and SA to ensure that farmers get them for their agricultural activities.
He cited the Southern Highlands regions, including Ruvuma, Mbeya, Iringa and Rukwa where fertilizer is sold between 105,000/- and 145,000/- per 50 kilograms.
"A 50kgs bag of Urea fertilizer in February, 2022 in Njombe region was sold between 96,000/- and 98,500/-, in Ruvuma 96,000/- and 99,500/- while in Katavi it was sold at 105,000," said Dr Ngailo.
He explained that the price has increased this month at between 145,000/- and 150,000 in Njombe and Ruvuma while in Katavi region the price is 145,000/-.
"We have done an assessment in February this year in several regions and noted that the prices started to rise this month, although there is no new consignment. Traders are not supposed to hike prices, and those who defy the order will have their licenses revoked," Dr Ngailo said.
He said what the traders are doing now is looking at the current market price and selling the fertilizer they had imported at low price so as to maximize profit.
Dr Ngailo said the current demand for fertilizer in the country by June this year was 698,260 tonnes and by February 63 percent of the fertilizer was available.
He explained that despite these demands, the average use of fertilizer in the country is between 400,000 to 500,000tons.
Source: Daily News