Zimbabwe: Give Fertilizer Sector Priority On Power

ZIMBABWEAN farmers require large amounts of artificial fertilizers if they are to produce decent harvests.

It makes sense, where the raw materials exist locally, to produce these fertilizers in Zimbabwe.

Local manufacture minimises expensive transport, makes the best use of limited hard currency, boosts local industry and provides jobs for Zimbabweans.


It also ensures that the actual chemical make-up and the formulas are exactly what the farmers need and want.

Zimbabwe built up a major fertilizer industry, centred around the phosphate deposits at Dorowa and the air liquefaction plant in the Midlands.

The country is fortunate in having phosphates among the scores of minerals it is blessed with.

These rocks are valuable, and were the cause of colonial wars in the 19th century and have made the solution of the Sahawari conflict in north-west Africa, a major headache for decades.

But the owner of the mine, Chemplex Corporation, has closed it temporarily citing persistent power cuts.

The Herald (Harare)