Friday, March 29, 2024

We can do it… with Govt funds – NCZ

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NITROGEN Chemicals of Zambia ( NCZ) is seeking for moral support from stakeholders to persuade government to fully fund the fertilizer production industry this year.

Members of the National Union of Commercial and Industrial Workers at NCZ, are currently going around the country to talk to traditional leaders, farmer groups and concerned citizens to rally behind the company in persuading government to release funds for the production of fertilizer.

Vice Treasurer of the union  Soka Nyirenda, during a walk-in interview with ZANIS in Chipata today, said government should fully fund NCZ because the company produces quality fertilizer compared to other countries.

Mr. Nyirenda said the general citizenry was concerned with the fertilizer which comes from outside the country because it was not known what effects the fertilizer would cause to soils in future.

Mr. Nyirenda who was flanked by NCZ Shop Steward, Allan Sinyinza, said production of fertilizer locally would ensure reduced prices of the commodity and also enable small scale farmers access it in good time.

He said NCZ was a complex plant in the sense that there were various factories within the same plant. Mr. Nyirenda said NCZ did not only produce fertilizers but also Sulphuric Acid, gases and explosive grades which were used in mines.

He said the equipment in the fertilizer plant only needed minor repairs and if government could fully fund the institution, it would go back on its feet to start full production of fertilizer.

Mr. Nyirenda observed that all along, NCZ had been running on funds borrowed from financial institutions to produce fertilizers, saying, the grants which it received from government was erratic.

He said government had been getting fertilizer from NCZ which it distributed to farmers on a subsidized price under the Fertilizer Support Program ( FSP) but had not paid back to the institution on time, making it fail to meet operational costs.

ENDS/SM/PK/ZANIS

69 COMMENTS

  1. atase we have hear this charade far too many times bane. KK, Chiluba, LPM and now NyamaSoya all failed NCZ. KK gave out fertilizer free without getting the money from farmers as a capaign ploy run down NCZ the rest were clueless or their friends were in fertilizer supply business so crippled NCZ further to perpertuate their businesses. Thats the root cause of problems of NCZ till todate. Atase fi politician.

  2. Anything government touches goes sour. Unless we learn to leave companies to run independently, we will always be chasing our own tails. Mean while politicians are giving their friends jobs.

    No to spending on this company again.

    l-)

  3. We all can do with gvt funding but for how long will NCZ get money from gvt without being able to manage honestly? Might as well be run by GRZ fulltime!

  4. NCZ as a company qualifies for a bail out, what is missing is a sound buisness strategy.Let NCZ produce a viable plan and allow people to debate and improve the plan if need be. Thereafter we can talk about funding.

  5. Jamaco, welcome man. How was your weekend? NCZ should be listed on LUSE,otherwise it will continue with these problems. Baby c, The award has made Maestro to become big headed. Who is he to tell bloggers what to do? Just ignore him.

  6. Mulishani Ba Moze,Baby C,Jamaco,Jenks,3RqU,rashid Jones and etc hope u all had a lovely weekend.

    The broblem with Ferts pa Zed yama kampeni not bussiness.

  7. Same people who are busy lobbying for Zambian Airways which is privately owned now are busy saying NO to NCZ. What kind of people are you. Cosistency is very important if you hope to be taken seriously. Grow up. 😮

  8. Engines

    Just how many times should NCZ be bailed out? have you forgotten that the last time this happened, Late Chulu kalima(?) bought furniture for his house and office? Plus an expensive car? Abash bail out. Just give it to a serious investor. [-x

  9. man kunde, Whats happening man? yakosa nchito olo maybe munakasha? NCZ is doing absolutely nothing because of government interferance.

  10. #21 Ba Moze. I agree but in the past govnt has been injecting money without a plan. Giving to a serious investor is obviously the ideal case. I would go for a bailout if the plan is such that the company will be listed on luse before the first production, then govnt would own equity proportional to the bailout money. If that equity exceeds 50% then govnt would have to sell part of it on luse to remain a minority shareholder and at the same time to recover part of the bailout money.Govnt would remain a shareholder so that all its dividents are channelled towards subsidising fertiliser.thats the value of suibsidies would depend on the profit share due to Govnt at every end of the year.

  11. Rashid I congratulated you on the other post ngaine?

    You are right. I said this in my earlier post. As long as government gets involved which is what is the case now, we will be talking about this 5 years from now. l-)

  12. Engines

    Yes, i see your point. But really, do you see these guys coming up with any meaningful and sustainable plan? As of now the word “planning” is a french word for these guys. Look at the mines. One would have thought that once beaten twice fimo fimo, but thats not the case! We have a history of blunders and personally i cannot allow my hard earned kwacha to be injected in company with such a bad history. Let us just give investors. Am sure there is one out there with a PLAN!

  13. Well NCZ is wasting its time because the govt has already given a deal to a Malawan, a contract of $35 million for fertiliser.
    When i heard the details of the deal, i was shocked because it came right from the hands of the top dogs.

    Fighting corruption nhuh???

  14. Ba Moze
    The cause of all that is luck of transparency in the management of those institutions especially where govnt is directly involved.each time Gvnt syphones money from the firm, the MD also does the same “scratch my back i will scratch yours”. But once you list the company and let the market hold more than 50% then transparence also moves in.the public becomes the owner and scrutiny of planes becomes the order of the day, the competence of management also gets exposed. A private investor can do that but the uninformed Zambian public will subortage him each time fertiliser prices go up and he will have little protection.

  15. #34 Engines

    Once again, i see your point. However, if the cost of production justifies an upward price adjustment, then we have to accept that. In any case, even if the company was listed, that would not exclude it from market forces that affect cost of production, would it? What am trying to say is that these things have been tried (well, to some extent) and so far (unless am wrong) the private investor seems to know what he is doing when it comes to business (albeit his short comings in labour management.

  16. thank you my dear baby c,even me i need love baby,but i gat to go since am still banned by ba LT.
    Ba LT okey ba……..

  17. 28. Ba Moze,

    ” Yes, i see your point. But really, do you see these guys coming up with any meaningful and sustainable plan? As of now the word “planning” is a french word for these guys. ”

    I agree. However, the ‘free marketeers’ on this board (who insist that all goods should be imported), have some questions to answer. Such as: when did planning become unfashionable? When was it decided that ‘the market knows best’?

    It is the ideology of Neoliberalism that has made planning and government involvement taboo. So let’s let go of neoliberal free market, privatisation, importation, foreign investor, ideology. The government has to become involved in the economy again.

  18. 12. Engines

    ” NCZ as a company qualifies for a bail out, what is missing is a sound buisness strategy.Let NCZ produce a viable plan and allow people to debate and improve the plan if need be. Thereafter we can talk about funding. ”

    I agree. They should have a decent business plan. I am against chemical anything when it comes to agriculture, but in the short run, it may crank up maize production, and that is what is needed in the short term.

  19. The trouble with the fertiliser business is that the largest client is govt. Even if NCZ were to be privatised, they may wind up because govt. officials will still buy from Nyiombo where their bread is buttered. However, it doesn’t make sence for govt. buy fertiliser at such great cost then subsidise it. How does the subsidy framework operate. At which point and by which quantities is fertiliser subsidized? There is a possibility that there is some abuse. Besides govt. is too willing to support foreign owned companies at the expense of locals. I hear what govt. spent this year was double what was needed to enable NCZ produce the same quantity of fertiliser

  20. we have one planting season the whole year. That is when fertiliser is wanted. Why don’t farmers acquire the commodity throughout the year? Everyone waits for November to start panic buying! I am not a farmer but please can someone in the know explain this ‘christmas type of shopping’?

  21. Tingataye lini nthawi nokambako nkhani za teti.
    Kuno kwasu kum’mawa vinthu vungotivuta. Whether NCZ is funded or not a farmer in Nthombimbi or Mgabi will not benefit.
    Those lobbying for it na tidye nao cabe. Infact they dont even have farms. Kalaleni!

  22. 57. VOTE RIGGER,

    ” we have one planting season the whole year. That is when fertiliser is wanted. Why don’t farmers acquire the commodity throughout the year? Everyone waits for November to start panic buying! I am not a farmer but please can someone in the know explain this ‘christmas type of shopping’? ”

    I agree with you. The constraint is that 97% of agriculture is rain fed. The solution is to create irrigation works so water is available to every farm throughout the year.

    Which would double maize output, because farmers could have 2 harvests per year (or more).

  23. 57. VOTE RIGGER,

    What is needed, is a comprehensive agrarian reform program that puts people and farmers at the center of development. Only 20% of arable land is in use, only 3% of arable land is irrigated. That is a MASSIVE growth opportunity for the country. Think of the millions of jobs that would be created, if we developed rural infrastructure, created 100 hectare commercial organic farms (with farm businesses like greenhouses, livestock rearing, poultry, etc.). Organic farming requires more labour, but much fewer input, most of which can be produced on the farm itself.

    It would secure the food supply, it would many more jobs than all the mining jobs in the country (58,000).

  24. But the key to economic growth, is to create demand for goods and services. No demand, no transaction, no production.

    Demand = Wages.

    If we can get people’s wages way up, by making sure they work in jobs that generate a more than living wage, we can’t go wrong.

    And the only way to do that, is to make sure that the people, not corporations, not ‘foreign investors’ are the ones to benefit from economic activity in the country.

  25. Thats the way to go. The food crisis needs urgent action if normacy is to prevail.
    Two points:
    Eradicate illiteracy,
    improve the scale of food production by investing in NCZ

  26. it’s a shame that goverment would rather prioritise overstuffing MPs and ministers with bonuses,spending billions on a new constitution when the’ll be calls for another one a week after and other useless ventures than revumping a company like NCZ which will provide more jobs for the population.shame shame. :(:(:(**==

  27. At #3 above I gave a correct picture bane on the Problems of NCZ – I humbly ask that you refreshen that #3 comment.The NCZ pipo voted for NyamaSoya in the last presidential elections,B4that Sata told them that he had cheated them with promises to re-capitalise NCZ.They were given Blue chitenges & their wives were wriggling their waists in broad day light at NyamSoya’s rally. Now they have realised Sata was right. As collective punishment I’m sorry to say let NCZ remain closed. They trusted a wrong man to redeem them, a man who run down NAMBOARD

  28. Tired of Zambian Charade, I will spend my evening watching Barack Obama’s Inaugulation as the 44th USA presido. At least it will come in as a refreshing respise unlike the comedy in Zed politics – rigging, justified pertitions, muggings, corruption, lies, deception hey the list endless.

  29. 68. Manchild,

    ” Zambian Govt elite cant support NCZ,nishi mwabapaila business,you know how the elite are in Zambia. ”

    What I am learning and getting to understand more and more, is that politicians will always pull more power and budgets towards themselves, that Central Government politicians will always pull more power toward Central Government, and that the only alternative is to decentralize the government.

    Case in point: Vernon Mwaanga suggesting at the NCC that parliament is expanded from 150 MPs to 250 MPs.

    Go CDP! 🙂

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