A tender issued by the Agricultural Inputs Marketing Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) to procure 75,000tn of DAP fertiliser  will open November 8, 2006, according to the Directive issued by the Council of Ministers at the beginning of 2005.
 

The new Directive allows importers to use the fertiliser itself as collateral for loans from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). The Directive came into being to both encourage importers and relieve regional states from guaranteeing loans. These guarantees had adversely affected the regional state budgets and affected their yearly spending possibilities.
 

Itosa, Lome Adama and Erer cooperatives as well as the state-owned Agricultural Input Supply Enterprise and a private company have bought the bid documents for the latest tender.
 

Currently there is a stock of 145,000tn of fertilizer in the country, but an additional 505,000tn needs to be imported before the beginning of the 2007 rainy season. The Procurement Controlling Committee, responsible to the Agriculture Inputs Marketing Department, will float 8 to 10 tenders to procure the mentioned amount. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), Quality and Standards Authority (QSA), and Ethiopia Roads Authority (ERA) are represented in the Committee.
 

Around 385,000tn of fertilizer was imported in 2005/2006 at a cost of more than 117 million dollars; a similar purchasing price is expected during this fiscal year ending in June 2007.
 

Cooperatives, with technical assistance by the MoARD’s Cooperative Agency and loans from the regions, were the highest importers last year;. The new financing system, which is going to be implemented now, is expected to draw new importers into the sector.