Staff Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday commissioned the fertilizer blending plant at the Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries.

Speaking during the commissioning of the plant, President Mnangagwa said that the new blending plant was testimony that investors were responding to the clarion call.

“Today we are witnessing one of the projects that my Government is operationalising under the Five-Year Fertilizer Import Substitution Roadmap.

“This new blending plant is testimony that investors are responding to the clarion call for accelerated innovation, research and development riding on the Science, Technology and Innovation Ecosystem established under the Second Republic.

“It will go a long way towards supporting our economy, with expected multiplier effects in our agriculture value chain,” said President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa said that fertilizers increased plant productivity thereby leading to better harvest.

“Fertilizers increase plant productivity and development through boosting growth, accelerating maturation, enhancing resistance, and improving the quality of fruits and seeds, leading to better harvests and earnings.

“They are a critical input for the achievement of yields that are required to feed a growing world population. Hence, without the addition of fertilizers, crop yields and agricultural productivity would be significantly reduced,” said President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa said that the investment by Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries came at an opportune time as the nation prepared for the 2022/23 summer cropping season.

He further said that Agricultural value chains were a key priority in the National Development Strategy as the nation structurally transformed the economy from being commodity-based to churning out increasingly manufactured value-added products.

President Mnangagwa stated that the Government remained resolute and continued to provide the necessary support to boost production and productivity at farm and household level.

Treasury and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe have mobilized over US$70 million in lines of credit for the importation of raw materials, which include fertilizer and agro-chemicals, in support of enhanced agricultural production and productivity.

The Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries had become the latest player in the fertilizer blending industry, with capacity of producing 200 000 tonnes of basal fertilizers per annum.

Meanwhile, retail fertilizer companies had resorted to hiking the price of fertilizers to farmers, with a 50kg bag of Ammonium Nitrate selling for US$85. The new Zimbabwe Phosphate Industry Plant will ensure completion and a drop in the commodity which will benefit producers right through to the consumers.