The Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, Lands, and Natural Resources has called for increased funding to the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) in a bid to revive and increase fertilizer production.
Committee Chairperson Kasautu Michelo says the company has the capacity to increase fertilizer production from the current 50 thousand metric tonnes to One Hundred Thousand metric tonnes yearly if given adequate funding.
Mr. Michelo says Zambia should not be importing fertilizer when the country has the capacity to produce enough for the farmers under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP).
He says the Committee will ensure funding of the fertilizer company is tabled before Parliament for government consideration.
Mr. Michelo was speaking before conducting a fact-finding mission with other members of the committee at NCZ in Kafue.
And NCZ Board Chairperson Chitundu Kasase said increasing funding towards the operationalization of the company will enable it to compete on the market.
Dr. Kasase said this is why the company plans to increase its annual production capacity to meet the demands of farmers across the country.
Meanwhile Industrial Development Corporation-IDC- Chief Portfolio Officer Henry Sakala said NCZ has continued to record remarkable profit since 2020.
REMARKABLE PROFIT ? WHERE IS THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT
OTHERWISE ITS EMPTY TALK
These are companies that should be sold…just privatise it so that it can lessen the burden on Govt funding this and that…everytime imwe nikulila funding where are the profits going after selling your fertiliser ??
NCZ is an obsolete factory which needs to be scrapped. And Zambian farmers should switch to regenerative farming: don’t burn the cuttings coming from the field but turn it into compost; better than fertilizer and it’s FREE.
NCZ is old, the machinery spends more time idle than working. The inputs are imported. It is cheaper for the country to import fertiliser than make it. That is better for farmers because they save more money and can produce more competitively. That pushes food prices down while not hurting farmers as much.
We should also move away from over dependence on fertiliser.
Surely, like Mulungushi Textiles, this KNCZ is obsolete. It’s much like Emmanuel Mwamba, Chimbwili and Nkandu “Africanus Zinjanthropus” being tribal bigots dreaming of a return to power. It will never happen, ki Ka kayonge kasiyale kwateni, kufelile.
NCZ doesn’t need funding, what it requires is increased business. Last time I visited NCZ I found that they were manufacturing Compound D fertilizer for a local Company that had won a tender to supply to Government. NCZ is being shunned because the Fertilizer Mafia won’t make deals by dealing with NCZ. Further, the price of fertilizer is highly exaggerated because of the shoddy deals involved. Despite the negative publicity NCZ has the capacity to produce fertilizer for the whole of Zambia. We’ll see this Government’s resolve to dismantle cartels through fertilizer supply. There’s already a Minister who has come under camera for fertilizer deals less a year into the UPND Administration.