The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), has warned that there could a shortage of subsidized fertilizers later this year when the planting season is in full swing.
This is because, while the prices of the product increase and the government subsidies have dropped to 15 per cent, the government has also reduced the entire volume of subsidized fertilizers.
These claims were made by Dr. Charles Nyaaba, Head of Programmes and Advocacy at Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East.
“Last year, we were buying the subsidized fertilizer for Ghc53. Today, for the same 25kg, for the NPK is going for Ghc160. When you are counting how many bags would go into producing an acre, you are looking at averagely, three bags of the 50kg”.
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“So it means that if you take the NPK, even with the subsidy, we are going to pay Ghc320 [for the 50kg]. One thing that I have to draw your attention to is that apart from the government reducing the subsidy component to farmers, the total budget for fertilizer subsidy has reduced drastically. This means that the total quantity of fertilizer that is going to be subsidised is all going to be reduced,” he said.
Dr. Nyaabe insisted that the situation could force a shortage of PFJ fertilizers on the local market. This would invariably force farmers to purchase from the open market.
The majority of farmers are going to rely on the open market. In the open market, farmers in the irrigation areas are buying fertilizers, 50kg, for over Ghc400 depending on the brand of fertilizer. For a farmer to spend over Ghc1000 Ghana cedis to just buy fertilizers alone means trouble,” he said.
Dr. Nyaaba said the situation demands government’s full attention.
A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
