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Govt refutes reports on SA fertiliser ban
2008-04-23 09:31:57
By Lydia Shekighenda, Dodoma
The government yesterday refuted claims that it has banned the use of Sulphate Ammonia (SA) fertiliser.
Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives deputy minister David Mathayo told the House here that SA fertiliser was still in use.
Mathayo was responding to a question by Vita Kawawa (Namtumbo, CCM) who had wanted to know whether the government was ready to allay farmers' doubts regarding the use of SA fertiliser.
The farmers also complained that the ban on the use of SA fertiliser had lowered their produce since NPK did not enrich the soil.
``I would like to announce that the SA fertiliser is not banned and farmers can use it in growing their crops,`` he said.
Mathayo said the government was keen to carry out participatory investigation into the use of SA fertiliser to clear the farmers` doubts.
He said the investigation would also focus on educating farmers on the proper use of fertilisers in farms.
Mathayo however stressed that fertilisers did not destroy land if used according to recommended application.
He was responding to a supplementary question by John Cheyo (Bariadi East, UDP) who had proposed that the government give enough subsidy on fertilisers to all regions so that they can get enough amounts of the chemical, saying the current system by which the government gave insufficient amounts of fertilisers to each region destroyed the land.
``Fertilisers enrich the soil land but if used improperly can destroy it,`` Mathayo said.
He said about 385,000 tonnes of fertilisers were needed countrywide and the government could not afford to satisfy all the farmers.
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