By Seleoe Nonyane
Farmers have voiced displeasure at the number of bags of fertilizers and seeds planned to be distributed to them by the ministry of agriculture and food security for the summer cropping season.
This after the minister of agriculture and food security Keketso Sello announced that the seeds and fertilizers will be made available for farmers from this week.
Sello indicated that each farmer will only be allowed to buy 10 bags of fertilizers and five bags of seeds. Those buying in bulk will only be allowed to purchase just 100 bags of fertilizers and 20 bags of seeds; he attributed the rationing of the products to a rise in market prices.
The principal secretary for the ministry of agriculture and food security ‘Mole Khumalo said the budget for all agricultural inputs is M71 million and this was budgeted before the advent of the Russia and Ukraine conflict.
He observed that the amount is not sufficient for the ministry as the price of fertilizers has rocketed to unforeseen levels as it has doubled. The fertilizer prices have increased by 100 percent. This means that the money that was allocated for fertilizers and seeds is very little, he warned.
He added: “Therefore, this is going to affect the summer cropping negatively because it is at this time that cropping is done at a larger scale,” he said.
He said his ministry is scrutinizing other measures to overcome the problem although he could not specifically divulge such steps.
But he was optimistic that such a problem will be a thing of the past in the next cropping ploughing season.
A farmer Mpho Sekonyela from the Mokhotlong district said that a shortage of seeds and fertilizers is a problem because already, most of the land is not good for cropping due to the previous down pours. He believed the scarcity of seeds and fertilizers will not fully address their demands as farmers.
He added that the government should have foreseen this and should have come up with another alternative in order to meet them halfway.
He blamed the government for not adhering to their demands regarding the source and availability of seeds and fertilizers for the current cropping season.
“I had planned to plant 250 to 300 hectares but I only managed to plough 148 hectares and I need more than 100 bags to cover all the of them. We are going to be compelled to buy more and they are very expensive because a bag of fertilizers cost more than M800 in South Africa,” he said.
He warned that a commercial farmer cannot produce own fertilizer.
Another farmer from Ha Molapo in the district of Botha-Bothe Thapelo Tṧosane commented that the number of bags and fertilizers awarded to one farmer is not enough, saying such rationing will impoact negatively on the harvest.
“Apart from fertilizers chemicals are also very expensive and we do not feel the subsidy at all because in 2021 I bought chemicals for M350. But this year I will be purchasing the same chemicals for M750.
“So, this subsidy is very little,” he said.
Tṧosane said this is also going to affect the relationship field owners.
“I had already planned to plant a certain portion of land but with the number of fertilizers and seeds to be allocated it is going to be very difficult. We will have to take back the fields from those who had rented them out,” he added.
