The government of Tanzania has announced plans to increase the amount of fertilizer in the 2022/23 agricultural season.
Tanzania Fertilizer Regulatory Authority (TFRA) executive director, Dr Stephen Ngailo revealed the report and said they target to increase up to 500,000 tonnes. The move follows the allocation of Sh150 billion in the 2022/23 Agricultural budget to subsidize fertilizer prices.
The fertilizer utilisation increment is over 140,000 tonnes as compared to 360,000 tonnes utilized in the 2021/22 agricultural season. Dr Ngailo said farmer’s fertilizer application was affected by hiked prices and unfavourable weather conditions.
Tanzania’s goal
“This is contrary to 475,000 tonnes of fertilizers used by farmers in the 2020/21 farming season,” he said, noting that the government aims at supplying more subsidized fertilizers in the market in order to increase uptake.
Tanzania’s goal is to ensure fertilizer uptake reaches 800,000 tonnes by 2025. Dr Ngailo notes that the government was mobilizing more funds for providing subsidized fertilizers that would benefit smallholder farmers.
He said Minjingu Fertilizer Company was set to raise production from last year’s 25,732 tonnes to at least 100,000 tonnes, while Dodoma-based Itracom Fertilizer Company will start producing 600,000 tonnes.
“Therefore, not only are we targeting 500,000 tonnes, we would like to surpass it in order to meet increasing global food demands as per the rapid population growth. We are looking at increasing agricultural yields by 50 to 100 percent of this year’s given good weather conditions,” he said.
