Fertilizers: Purchase of urea is not yet completed

agricultural campaign 2022-2023 began in August this year, and despite the promise of the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (Midagri), the urea that the government will supply to farmers has not yet arrived.

Fertilizer that was going to be purchased in the procurement process carried out by Agriculture It still doesn’t have a specific arrival date after Midagri announced a change in supplier.

Recall that on August 10, the head of Midagri, Andres Alencastre, announced that he would change the supplier company, as the Accounts Chamber found violations in the Ready Oil Supply elections.

The new company selected was the Italian Unionsped SRL, which offered to supply the first batch of urea within 44 days, which implies fertilizer We just arrived at the end of September. However, Midagri still does not provide information about the signing of the contract, which is why the delivery of fertilizers will take longer than expected.

According to the newspaper Gestión, until yesterday negotiations between Unionsped SRL and Agro Rural continued, but without optimistic prospects.

For former Minister of Agriculture Milton von Hesse, it is most likely that this third attempt to buy fertilizer deserted.

“So far, it seems that the third bidder is also not going to submit his proposal, and we are like at the beginning (…) At this stage of the game, I would bet that this third bidder will still fall, and the new bidder, do it it will take another 70 or 80 days to comply with the rules of competition and transparency,” von Hesse told RPP Noticias.

Von Hesse believed that Midagri should have done to support farmers by providing credit through Agroperú so that producers buy from their local suppliers or redistribute vouchers, which is a simpler and more direct form of subsidy.

How many farmers will receive fertilizer?

Initially, Agro Rural chief executive Mario Rivero told RPP that the fertilizer would be delivered to 120,000 farmers, primarily for crops such as rice, potatoes and corn.

However, subsequently the owner MidagriAndrés Alencastre, confirmed that the first batch of fertilizers purchased in the procurement process will only be distributed to 48,000 small producers.

In addition, recently other representatives Midagri They indicated that, according to forecasts for December, only 32% of the total number of registered citizens will receive fertilizers.