Fert, Seed and Grain (FSG), one of the biggest manufacturers of key farming inputs, has been hard hit by over US$100 million in debt owed by the government after it supplied fertilisers and chemicals under Pfumvudza/Intwasa for the past three years.
FSG manufacturing plant in Bindura showed that there was no activity on Friday at midday. This comes amid reports that the company shareholders were in talks with a Zambian firm to sell their stake.
Apart from FSG, other seed, fertiliser, and chemical suppliers are owed about US$350 million for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 winter wheat season.
The seed and fertilizer are doled out to communal farmers for free under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme that supports the farmers.
Finance and Economic Development Permanent Secretary George Guvamatanga did not respond to questions. Guvamatanga asked for the details of the debt, and once the information was shared with him, he did not answer.
Subsequent efforts to get a comment from the Treasury Permanent Secretary were unsuccessful.
Professor Obert Jiri, the secretary in the Agriculture Ministry, did not respond by the time, of writing.
However, large-scale tobacco farmers said they were told by FSG that they could not access farming inputs yet as the company was transitioning. This could adversely affect farming preparations.
Although FSG Executives at the Pomona headquarters declined to comment on Friday, reliable sources said the company was considering a debt discount for the government’s unpaid money.
In October 2024, Prof Jiri told Parliament that: “The main challenge is certainly the financing of this programme. Our contractors – FSG Fertilizer, ZFC Fertilizer, and Quton Seed – are owed in excess of US$300 million for the 2020/2021 season, 2021/2022 season, and the 2022 /2023 season. So we owe them quite a lot, and this is what delays the movement of inputs, because if we don’t pay, they cannot move the inputs,
“We wanted to be as early as we must at this particular time, but the cropping season is now starting, and we have out there 50 percent of our seed, 49 percent of our compound D fertilizer, which is the major bulk input.”
It seems the over US$350 million debt has not been cleared by the Treasury, putting major hurdles to the 2025/2026 summer cropping season.
