The Ministry of Agricultural Development and Irrigation (Midagri) has announced through its social networks the start of a new process of acquiring urea, this in the midst of the crisis that the agricultural sector is suffering from the lack of synthetic fertilizers.
In view of these circumstances, an agreement will be sought through Agro Rural for the purchase of a total of 44 thousand tons of urea. As indicated in the press release from the government body, this action aims to ensure good production in the period 2022-2023.
Likewise, with regard to the competition rules, Midagri stated that “free access to the participation of interested suppliers will be promoted, as well as ensuring that these bidders have the same opportunities in formulating their proposals”.
Nominally, the urea procurement process will take approximately 13 calendar days and will be divided as follows: Invitations (3 days), Submission of offers (5 days), Preparation of the short list and evaluation of proposals (4 days) and Awarding (1 day ). However, the last two stages can be postponed if necessary, so the purchase period may be longer than expected.
As expected, the company that definitively wins the public tender must deliver the quantity of urea agreed upon during the award phase. The conditions? It must be made in the port of Callao, in bags of 50 kilos each, which must have an identifiable mark that certifies the product contained therein and the respective weight.
From the Agriculture portfolio, on the other hand, they stressed that urea will only be part of the fertilization process of national fields, since the use of organic fertilizers and guano will also be promoted, as announced last month by Minister Jenny Ocampo. .
Three failed processes
This would be the fourth time that a process for the acquisition of urea has been initiated so far during the administration of Pedro Castillo.
In the first of these, in June, the process was deserted on the grounds that the final proposals did not meet the technical specifications required by Agro Rural for the actual delivery of the 73 thousand tons of urea that it was planned to purchase on that occasion.
In the same month, the takeover was attempted again. However, after granting approval to the Brazilian company MF Fertilizers, Midagri finally decided to cancel the purchase process after the Controller of the Republic made serious observations on the irregularities that occurred in the evaluation of the fertilizer price.
Two months later, in August of this year, under the ministerial administration of Andrés Alencastre, the new process initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture was thwarted after the Italian company Union Sped renounced the agreement reached with the government. The decision forced the trial to be canceled and prolonged the uncertainty in this area.
