PELUM ZAMBIA ADVOCATES FOR INVESTMENT IN PRODUCTION OF ORGANIC FERTILIZER

By Bwalya Kampamba

In order to evade, the negative impact synthetic fertilizers pose on soil fertility and the environment in general , the Participatory Ecological Land Use Management- PELUM Zambia says the country must now be looking at investing in organic fertiliser production as well as promoting composite making at a large scale.

PELUM Country Coordinator Muketoi Wamunyima has since opposed the call by President Hakainde Hichilema for the manufacturing plants to set up fertiliser plants as a way to mitigate challenges around the fertiliser procurement and distribution undertaking.

During an interactive conference between Zambia National Farmers' Union-ZNFU and various fertiliser suppliers in Lusaka on Tuesday this week, President Hichilema challenged the fertiliser suppliers and some of the experienced players in the sector to consider setting up fertiliser manufacturing plants in Zambia so that the country can reduce reliance on the importation of the commodity, especially in light of the Russia - Ukraine conflict.  

The war in Ukraine has left the world not only short of important grains but also fertilizers as farmers are seeing prices for fertilizers skyrocket. 

But Mr Wamunyima feels inviting investors to start producing synthetic fertilizer is not a good idea for Zambia considering that the government has now a Ministry of Environmental and Green Economy in place which was set up to protect the environment.

"For us, we are not really for the idea of setting up new fertiliser plant, unless they are plans to produce organic fertiliser, because we have the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia which has failed to function and not only that but with the environmental issues which we have, synthetic fertiliser is just destroying our soil, So I think we should be looking at investing in organic fertiliser production and also promoting composite making which can be done at a large scale," he said.

"So inviting investors for synthetic fertilisers for us is not a way that we should be going especially since the government has the Ministry of  Green Economy and Environment. A green economy means we have to basically protect the environment and putting synthetic fertilisers into the soil is against setting up such a ministry. I think they should be looking at investing more in organic fertiliser production."

Research indicates that although commercial growers often use synthetic fertilizer to speed up the growth process of their crops, overuse of these fertilizers over time can deplete soils of natural microorganisms and nutrients.

Mr. Wamunyima has stressed the need for the country to start looking at investing more in organic fertiliser production given that they are climate-friendly and easier on the environment.