Koforidua, May 7, GNA - The price of compound fertilizer, popularly called NPK or 15-15-15, has increased from 187,000 cedis to 205,000 cedis per a bag of 50 kilograms in the Koforidua municipality. Some agro-chemical shops are offering the same products for 210,000 cedis.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Koforidua the Eastern Regional Distributor of Wienco Company Limited, importers of agricultural chemical products, Mr Joseph Ahunu said since the increase in the price of the fertilizer last month sales have gone down. He said the compound fertilizer was mostly used by the maize and vegetable farmers in the region and sometimes by farmers of other crops.

Mr Ahunu said most of his customers had reduced the number of bags that they normally buy but expressed the hope that with time, the sales could pick up again.

Explaining the rational for the increase in the price of the compound fertilizer, the Marketing Manager of Wienco, Mr William Kotey, said the company was responding to world market trends because the compound fertilizer was a by-product of petrol.

A GNA survey in the Municipality indicated that the price of ammonia, another form of fertilizer, had not changed and was still 175,000 cedis per a bag of 50 kilogramme as it was since the beginning of the year.

Prices of insecticides and herbicides have not seen any major change.