The Ministry of Agriculture called on the companies of subsidized nitrogenous fertilizers on Wednesday to supply cooperative societies and Agricultural Credit Bank for Development without shortage during the current agricultural year, which on 18 October began its winter season.
Adel El-Beltagy, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, said in a statement on Thursday that the Coordinating Committee for Fertilizers met yesterday and informed the companies that supply fertilizer to cooperative societies would be linked to pumping gas to these companies, in accordance with an agreement with the ministries of Petrol, Industry and Investment.
Ali Ismail, head of the Coordinating Committee for Fertilizers, said that the role of the Ministry of Agriculture is limited to work on the provision of subsidized fertilizers to farmers and control over its distribution.
Ismail pointed out that representatives of production companies asked for a meeting next Monday to resolve the issue of supply.
The ministry is committed to fulfilling the needs of the Egyptian farmer for subsidized nitrogenous fertilizers, in accordance with the recommendations of the Agricultural Research Center as part of the ministry's plan for sustainable development, and to eliminate the phenomenon of trading subsidized fertilizer on the black market, said Ismail.
The Ministry of Agriculture has developed targets for each company according to its productive capacity, so as to ensure the supply of about 4.3 million metric tons.
Cabinet has decided in the middle of this month, in agreement with the companies to increase the price per ton of nitrate fertilizer by 40.7 percent, and the urea by 37.9 percent to make up for the increase in fuel prices.
