BULAWAYO - Faced with a crippling drought and food shortages some communal farmers here have begun selling the fertiliser they received from the government at inflated prices.With most crops written off in Matabeleland due to poor rains, farmers are selling fertiliser in an effort to raise money to stock up food.
It has emerged that the fertiliser was provided by government at subsidised prices and these farmers are selling it for five times the price.
An Agritex officer revealed that most of the fertiliser on the market was ammonium nitrate, which most farmers had not used due to the incessant dry spell that hit the country from late December to this February.
It is true that some farmers are selling the inputs they got from the government at subsidised prices to other communal and commercial farmers, Dumisani Nkomo, the Matabeleland North Agritex officer, said.
He said it was impossible for the farmers to apply the fertilisers as most of the crops were already suffering moisture stress.
Nyoni however, warned that those caught selling the subsidised inputs at inflated prices risked losing the inputs in the next farming season.
We will write down the names of the farmers who are engaging in the illicit deals so that they dont get the inputs in the next farming season, he said.
Post published in: News