The price of fertilizer is unprecedentedly high this farming season but the managing director of Gambia Groundnut Corporation has advised farmers to cope, warning there was no end in sight to the country’s fertilizer price situation.
According to Muhammed Njie, despite the ‘attempt by some to politicize the fertilizer issue’, The Gambia provides the cheapest fertilizer subsidies for its farmers.
Currently, a 50kg of NPK fertilizer trades at D2500, representing a leap from the last farming season.
Farmers have raised eyebrows over the cost of fertilizer well before the rains set in.
But now they are being told to cope as the government stalls in finding a quick fix to the fertilizer price issue.
Muhammed Njie meanwhile told Star FM Open Mike Friday that Gambian farmers were lucky with the stockpile of fertilizer enough to sustain National demands.
Njie, however, advised making hay while the sun shines.
“Letโs capitalize on the opportunity because the rainy season is almost here, he quipped adding, “GGC doesn’t have any short-term solutions for the fertilizer price,”.
“I have realized that a lot of people are using this (fertilizer price) to score political points. I think that’s not correct.”
Officials are also looking at the impact of supply chain challenges currently slowing global trade amid the war in Ukraine.
The farmer cooperation boss cited the blockade of the Suez Canal by container ships, the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine as triggers for the increase in global hiking of fertilizer prices.
Njie said the lack of raw materials has also affected the fertilizer supply chain, leading to price hikes and shortages in some countries.
