Tanzania to increase fertilizer uptake to 500,000 tonnes

Dar es Salaam. The government plans to increase the amount of fertilizer in the 2022/23 agricultural season to 500,000 tonnes.

Government confidence comes following the allocation of Sh150 billion in the 2022/23 Agricultural budget to subsidize fertilizer prices.

The fertilizer utilisation increment is over 140,000 tonnes as compared to 360,000 tonnes utilized in the 2021/22 agricultural season.

The new targets were revealed yesterday by the Tanzania Fertilizer Regulatory Authority (TFRA) executive director, Dr Stephen Ngailo, shortly after a press conference to unveil the government’s plan to provide fertilizers at subsidized prices.

Speaking exclusively to The Citizen, Dr Ngailo said farmer’s fertilizer application was affected by hiked prices and unfavourable weather conditins.

“This is contrary to 475,000 tonnes of fertilizers used by farmers in the 2020/21 farming season,” he said, noting that the government aims at supplying more subsidized fertilizers in the market in order to increase uptake.

He noted that Tanzania’s goal is to ensure fertilizer uptake reaches 800,000 tonnes by 2025.

Furthermore, he said the government was mobilizing more funds for providing subsidized fertilizers that would benefit smallholder farmers.

He said Minjingu Fertilizer Company was set to raise production from last year’s 25,732 tonnes to at least 100,000 tonnes, while Dodoma-based Itracom Fertilizer Company will start producing 600,000 tonnes. “Therefore, not only are we targeting 500,000 tonnes, we would like to surpass it in order to meet increasing global food demands as per the rapid population growth,” he said.

Dr Ngailo said the government initiatives were aimed at increasing agricultural yields by 50 to 100 percent of this year’s given good weather conditions.

According to him, farming the regions of Ruvuma, Njombe, Iringa, Mbeya, Songwe, Rukwa, Katavi, Tabora and Kigoma mostly rely on the use of fertilizers.

Furthermore, he said subsidized fertilizers would be available in the market before commencement of the 2022/23 season, after the programme had been launched by President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the climax of this year’s Farmers’ Day slated to take place in Mbeya.

Despite the on-going war between Russia and Ukraine that contribute 30 percent of global fertilizer needs, Morocco, through its officials who toured the country recently, pledged to supply 100,000 tonnes.

“TFRA is also expected to soon launch the Fertilizers Bulk Procurement System (FBPS). Urea will also be available from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,” he said.

Regarding the subsidized fertilizers, Dr Ngailo called on farmers to register in the electronic systems in village offices where they will be required to provide particularls including the size of farms they own.

He said the process will also involve registration of other stakeholders and that every farmer would be provided with a special registration number that would be recognized in the system.

“Importers or manufacturers such as Yara and Minjingu Fertilizer Company will be required to pack the fertilizers in packaging materials that have been provided with Quick Response (QR) code,” said Dr Ngailo.

“TFRA will collect information from the system. For instance, Minjingu supplied 20 tonnes for distribution to farmers in Kasulu, Kigoma Region,” said Dr Ngailo.

Tabling the 2022/23 budget, Agriculture minister Hussein Bashe said reaching April 2022, Minjingu produced 25,732 tonnes for the previous season.

While 274,973 tonnes of different fertilizers were imported, 43,579 tonnes were manufactured locally.

Tanzania imports over 70 percent of its fertilizer to meet its needs.