Farmers unhappy with late delivery of subsidized fertilizer

Farmers in parts of the country are worried at the delay in taking delivery of government's subsidized fertilizer for the current crop season, as the rains set in.

They say the late implementation of the subsidy program will not be in the best interest of small-scale farmers.

The Fertilizer Subsidy Programme was instituted by the Government in 2008 to help farmers increase fertilizer application, to increase crop production.

The program has the aim of increasing the country's fertilizer application rate to at least 50Kg per hectare as recommended in the Medium Term Agricultural Sector Investment Programme of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.

Some farmers in the Ashanti and Bono Ahafo regions say the challenge in accessing the NPK fertilizer could negatively affect food production, most especially when most of them have started planting.

“When you plough the farm, after two weeks you have to start applying the NPK; now we've plough for more than four weeks and still no fertilizers. So farmers are facing difficulties”, a farmer at Ejura in the Ashanti region told Luv Fm.

The farmers have appealed to government to help them access the subsidized fertilizer in time since they cannot afford the high cost of fertilizer products on the market.

Agro-chemical dealers also say they are unable to access the fertilizer products to give the farmers.

Agyeman Takyi who operates in the Ejura-Sekyere Odumasi district tells Luv News his clients are getting frustrated because the products are not on the market.

“Just today, over 25 farmers have been to my shop hoping to get the fertilizer but because the government's subsidized rate has not been announced, our suppliers are also not selling to us. So the product is scarce and the farmers are worried”, he stated.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh/Luv Fm/Ghana