Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia
By JAMES KUNDA –
THE Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) will this year increase production of ammonium nitrate fertiliser which will be used as an alternative top dresser, Agriculture and Livestock Deputy Minister Greyford Monde has disclosed.
Mr Monde said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that the Government had sourced raw materials to facilitate the process that has commenced at NCZ’s Kobe ammonium nitrate plant in Kafue.
The Kobe plant was refurbished alongside the nitric acid plant at a cost of K70.4 million in 2013 to boost the capacity of NCZ in the production of basal and top dressing fertiliser.
Mr Monde said ammonium nitrate fertiliser had proved user friendly for Zambian soils and the importation of Urea was merely to supplement the farmer’s choice.
He said Government had contracted Nyombo Investments and Neria Investments to supply more than 100,000 tonnes of Urea under the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) 2015/2016.
NCZ has so far produced more than 60,000 tonnes of compound D out of the 106,000 tonnes projected for this year’s FISP.
“So far 60 per cent of the production has been done and we are confident as Government that both basal and top dressing fertiliser will reach the farmers within the projected time frame,” he said.
One million farmers are expected to benefit from the FISP in the 2015/2016 crop farming season with the receipt of subsidised seed and fertiliser.
