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In order to supply the necessary 530,000tn of grain
to meet demand in the coming year, the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD) has
announced a tender for buying fertilizer.
The fertilizer needed for this budget year has
declined by 120,000tn compared to the last year. The
first tender for 75,000tn of DAP was announced on
August 26, 2007.
“The unusual tender announcement made, three months
prior to the normal time, comes because the Ministry
could not buy the necessary volume of fertilizer in
the 2006/07 budget year and thus farmers planting
crops planted earlier in the year have no stocks of
fertilizer to meet their demand,” a source at the
Ministry told Fortune..
Last year, the Ministry planned to buy 650,000tn of
fertilizer while it still had a surplus of 145,000tn
from the previous budget year, and it announced a
tender for the gap to be filled. But it could only
get 275,000tn and from the projected need of
355,000tn.
This happened after the sudden 100 dollar per
quintal price increase on international markets in
the 2006/07 budget year.
A general manager of one union told Fortune
that local suppliers refrained from importing on the
curiosity of finding buyers at the increased price.
According to a source in the Ministry, MoARD is
planning to buy 350,000tn of DAP and 180,000tnof
UREA, for which it needs 150 million dollars from
the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).
One supplier company told Fortune that the
international fertilizer selling price had shown no
change compared to the last year’s budget year.
The first tender of the budget year will be opened
on September 17 2007, while the tender document
opened one week ago has not yet been sold.
“Although we have not been able to import as much
fertilizer as we planned, no region or farmer has
complained to us,” an official from the Ministry
told Fortune. “However, we need to deposit
20pc for the next year from what we are buying now,”
he added.
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