“Blame international market for increased prices” – Fertilizer producers

Producers of fertilizers have debunked claims of increasing the prices of fertilizers.

According to them, the current spike in prices is a reflection of the international market since most of the fertilizers are imported and are not on government’s subsidy programme.

West Africa Director for Yara International, Danquah Addo-Yobo told Joy Business “our commitment to the nation is important so we have continued to supply the product under the subsidy programme as intended. But the programme has contracts and specified quantities that you can supply. This means that not all fertilizers are subsidized”.

“So, beyond that, the industry also has the opportunity to sell above the subsidy programme and that’s where the challenges with international prices come to play. The prices of fertilizers on the local market are not necessarily high but a reflection of the international market,” he stated

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has been implementing a national fertilizer subsidy programme to support its flagship “Planting for Food and Jobs” programme.

However, farmers have been complaining about the scarcity of the subsidized fertilizers and the high prices of the unsubsidized ones.

As a result, it has been projected that Ghana is likely to experience food shortage next year.

Meanwhile, overall winner for the 2021 Wofagric Gold in the Soil Awards, Portia Asumba says access to fertilizer has been a major challenge for female farmers in the northern part of the country this year.

She also bemoaned the invasion of insects on their farms.

“This year, access to fertilizer has been a challenge hence we’ve not had enough to apply on our farms. Also, this year, the elephants have invaded our farms causing us to run away from our farms,” she said.

Alberta Akosa, Founder of Agrihouse Foundation, the organiser of the Wofagric and Gold in the Soil Awards, said the awards scheme is to recognize and reward women in agriculture.

“This is the third edition which we held at Bolgatanga in June. We are aiming at throwing more light on women excelling in agriculture. Also, we realized that there’s no data of women in this space, hence we introduced the Women in Agriculture Forum (Wofagric) and Gold in the Soil Awards to serve as an advocacy to highlight achievements of women in agriculture,” she said.

source: myjoyonline.com