RECAPATALISE NCZ FOR CHEAPER FERTILIZER - MUSENGE
NITROGEN Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) can be used to control prices of fertilizer on the market if the government can allocate more resources to allow the company to operate at full capacity, Advocates for Peoples Prosperity president Mwenya Musenge has said.
Mr Musenge said NCZ being a government parastatal could have competitive prices and that once the company was recapitalized, it would be able to supply the required amount fertilizer.
Mr Musenge believes that the NCZ should be supported by government alongside some private foreign companies so that it could be forced to conform to their standard of pricing.
He said through NCZ government, would be able to determine the true market value of fertilizer and have value for money.
Mr Musenge said government should come up with a solution for cheaper fertilizer for agriculture if Zambia’s agriculture sector was to grow and remain sustainable.
He said it was possible to access cheap fertilizer on a government-to government business with Saudi Arabia through bilateral relations.
“We wonder why our government has failed to do go to Saudi Arabia and negotiate for cheaper fertilizer on a government-to-government deal. This could be an opportunity that can be beneficial for Zambia if fully exploited,” Mr Musenge said.
Mr Musenge also said President Hakainde Hichilema in the opposition used to speak highly of looking for resources to start manufacturing fertilizer locally and that people were wondering why the government was failing to implement what it had envisaged while in the opposition.
He said allowing so many middlemen in the procurement of fertilizer would always injure the peasant farmers and that it was therefore important that the government completely did away with the middlemen.
Mr Musenge also raised concern over the government’s decision to direct bid NCZ and United Capital Fertilizer by overlooking the conditions in the procurement act that can guarantee direct bidding.
He said since the 2023/2024 farming season was still far from, it would have been better if the government had advertised so that they could get competitive prices.
Mr Musenge said single sourcing was problematic in the previous farming season and the Ministry of Agriculture was struggling to justify why it took the route of direct bidding before the Public Accounts Committee.
He said it was unfortunate that the UPND government was repeating the same mistakes that reap the country of its resources.