DIESEL PRICE HIKE BLOW FOR FARMERS

MBABANE – Government has announced E1.50 diesel hike, which will be effective tomorrow.

The eighth change of fuel price in the country was announced by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy’s Principal Secretary (PS) Dorcas Dlamini. Two fuel price drops have been announced in the year while the others were hikes. However, the hike that is expected tomorrow will affect only diesel and not paraffin and petrol. Through a press statement, Dlamini stated that the hike was due to international markets. “The Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy hereby informs the public that the price of Diesel 50ppm S will increase by E1.50 per litre while the price of Unleaded Petrol 95 and Illuminating Paraffin will remain unchanged. The new fuel price shall come into effect at midnight, Thursday, November 3, 2022, effective Friday, November 4, 2022,” she said. She explained that crude oil prices traded at an average of US$91.05 in the month of October from an average of US$90.36 a barrel realised in the month of September, 2022.

Depreciated

The Lilangeni and US Dollar exchange rate depreciated and averaged E18.04 in the month of October 2022 as compared to the E17.10 realised in the month of September 2022. Further, Dlamini said the international demand for diesel had increased in the world markets and this had led to a high price of diesel internationally. As a result, diesel is carrying a huge under recovery or deficit hence necessitating a price increase. From tomorrow, consumers will be paying E25 for a litre of diesel, from E23.50. Unleaded Petrol (ULP 95) price will remain unchanged at E21.00 per litre and Illuminating Paraffin at E18.45 per litre.

Usually, government cushions consumers against fuel hikes. However, this time around government did not cushion the hike. When further questions were posed on why government did not cushion consumers through the ministry’s Communications Officer Sikelela Khoza, there were no responses. The diesel hike came at a time when local farmers were gearing up for the 2022/2023 farming season. Executive Director of the Eswatini National Agricultural Union (ESNAU), Lwazi Mamba, said the diesel hike was a blow to farmers. He stated that most tractor owners were likely to charge farmers more. Mamba said this season, farmers were moving up and down hiring tractors to plough their fields. The director noted that tractors were fuelled with diesel. He noted that farmers who were under government subsidy might not suffer the same effects as those who hired private tractors.

Subsidy

He said this was because government provided a subsidy of E3 600 and tractors. He pleaded with government to continue subsidising farmers so that they escape such steep hikes. He noted that not only the tractor hiring prices were likely to hike but all other farm inputs such as fertiliser and seedlings, among others. This will be due to the fact that most huge vehicles are fuelled with diesel. Mamba said farmers would be pushed out of business as production costs would be very high yet the market price when selling their produce was likely to remain unchanged during the harvesting season. “The market price does not match the production costs, thus pushing farmers out of business,” he said. Mamba said they would need to lobby the markets to review prices before the harvesting season so that farmers did not make losses but continued to do business.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: