Concerns mount as access to fertiliser shrinks
Wet season farmers have warned of possible food crisis in the country if the current challenges around the production and distribution of fertiliser are not quickly resolved. Both NPK and Urea fertilisers are said to be in short supply in some parts of the country; a situation the farmers said was forcing up the prices […]
FG’s fertilizers at Kaduna blending plant.
Wet season farmers have warned of possible food crisis in the country if the current challenges around the production and distribution of fertiliser are not quickly resolved.
Both NPK and Urea fertilisers are said to be in short supply in some parts of the country; a situation the farmers said was forcing up the prices of the input.
While the Indorama plant in Port Harcourt, makers of Urea, was reportedly shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Daily Trust investigations show that farmers in most parts of the country are also finding it difficult to access NPK under the Presidential Fertiliser Initiative (PFI).
Most smallholder farmers rely on the PFI NPK 20-10-10, which is cheaper at N5,500, but reports from across the country now indicate that farmers in most states cannot walk into a shop to buy one due to unavailability of the product.
Where it is available, it is sold at prices that are ridiculously high for many of the farmers.
The price of NPK 15-15-15, which is a brand that was substituted with NPK 20:10:10 in the country after a bilateral agreement with Morocco, is now double.
The brand contains higher Nitrogen (20) than the Potassium (10) and Phosphorus (10) as against the flat 15-15-15 found in the former.
Why fertilisers are in short supply
With over 33 blending plants involved in the production of NPK in Nigeria, stakeholders are wondering why the input is still out of farmers’ reach in many parts of the country.
Some in the fertiliser blending sector attribute the current production challenge to absence of major raw materials for NPK.
The Managing Director of Kano Agricultural Supply Company (KASCO), Alhaji Bala Muhammad Inuwa, said the closure and suspension of production by Indorama is what led to the shortage of NPK presently being experienced.
Alhaji Bala said, “It was unfortunate that some staff of Indorama died during the pandemic and the company had to suspend production and closed down.
“To us, the closure of the company which serves as the main producer of the chemical needed in the blending of NPK is what is affecting most of the blending plants, thereby causing shortage of NPK.”
He, however, said there was information that the Indorama plant would resume production soon.
At Al-yuma Fertiliser and Chemical Limited, a fertiliser blending company in Kano with the capacity of 300,000 metric tonnes, a source told Daily Trust that production of NPK in the company stopped despite increase in the demand of the input.
The source also attributed the suspension to absence of raw materials.
But in an interview with Daily Trust at the weekend, the Executive Secretary of Fertiliser Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN), Mr. Gideon Negedu, refuted the claim of inadequate raw materials in the country to blend the required quantity of NPK 20:10:10 under PFI.
Mr. Negedu rather attributed the problem to logistics in moving the raw materials to the blending plants.
He said, “There are enough raw materials on ground, but we have to be able to move these materials to the blending plants.
“The problem is due to restriction on movement and many hurdles at check points on the interstate highways because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
To deal with the problem, Negedu said FEPSAN wrote to the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) to ease restriction for the input to pass, adding that although some states had eased restrictions, the challenges still existed because of the long hours and days they stayed on the road.
He said the raw materials had come in through the Port Harcourt sea port, but that when distribution was to commence, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the interstate restriction implemented by the states made it extremely difficult to discharge the raw materials to blending plants in the northern states; where most of the blenders are.
Why fertiliser prices are not uniform
One of the major issues surrounding fertiliser supply in the country is the gap in its prices in different parts of the country.
In Kano, for instance, NPK Golden, Kasco and Nagari brands of fertiliser are sold at between N6,500 and N7,000 in the open market where it is available, because many markets have run out of the input.
In many parts of Katsina State, a bag of NPK 15:15:15 now costs around N15,000, and that of NPK 20:10:10 is N6,500, while Urea (Indorama) is N7,300.
In towns across Nasarawa State, the PFI fertiliser sells between N8,000 and N8500.
In Oyo State, a bag of NPK 15-15-15 is sold between N15,500 and N16,000, while the PFI fertiliser was sold at N6,500 and N7,000 when it was available.
Reports from the state indicate that the PFI fertilisers are not available in many farming communities.
Alhaji Kabiru Fara, the Chairman of Agrodealers Association of Nigeria (AAN), told Daily Trust that it would be difficult to regulate the prices in the midst of supply shortfall.
Alhaji Kabiru said information from fertiliser producers indicated that the total raw materials gotten from Morroco were to produce just 600,000 tonnes per 50kg bag. That quantity according to him not enough to cover the Nigerian market.
He said, “If the supply is short, there is no way you can control the price no matter the magic.
Even if the price is written on the bag, it must be available first.
“So government did not look at availability, they now reduced the price to N5,000.
“Agrodealers should buy at N4,500, but even as the chairman of agrodealers, I did not get it to my village at N4,500.
“I got it there at N5,000. So how much am I going to sell? Certainly N5,500.”
But the FEPSAN executive secretary said there were two major types of fertiliser in the market with different prices which people must know, and explained that the PFI fertiliser had the Federal Government logo and price on it.
He further said: “Under the PFI NPK 20:10:10, all raw materials are sold to FEPSAN members at subsidised prices.
“Government pays for the transportation of the raw materials to the blending plants and also pays the blenders for mixing these raw materials into NPK 20:10:10.
“So when you hear the prices people are selling this PFI fertiliser; N6,000 or N7,500; it doesn’t make sense to me because we all go to the same market.”
He added that although the official government price was N5,500, there were logistic issues which could warrant little increment of N200 or N300 because most of the farming communities were far from local government headquarters, which could push the cost of transportation up.
Any hope for farmers?
A competent source close to the Indorama plant told our Agric Editor on Monday that the plant was likely to resume operations any time from today.
This, actors in the sector believe would improve the availability of Urea, as well as other chemicals being used to produce NPK.
The National President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir Ibrahim, believes that with the expected resumption of the Indorama plant, most of the challenges associated with fertiliser would be addressed.
Also, the Executive Secretary of FEPSAN, Mr. Gideon Negedu, informed that the country had so far received 600,000 tonnes of raw materials coming from Morocco and Russia.
He added that three raw materials ships were about to dock for the blenders to buy.
Mr. Negedu puts the current number of blenders at 33 and the applications for new ones that will soon take off may push the number to about 40.
These blenders are expected to produce about 500,000 tonnes of PFI fertilizer: NPK 20:10:10, in addition to about 300 000 tonnes of other NPK types, which brings the total quantity of NPK to 800 000 metric tonnes for the season.