Agriculture office logjam stalls exports and carbon credits

For over a year, a natural fertiliser has been caught in South Africa's Act 36 backlog, leaving a company out of pocket and farmers locked out of carbon markets as the sector awaits a digital fix

- By Kara le Roux

A fertiliser designed to cut chemical use and improve crop yields has been waiting more than a year for approval from the Department of Agriculture.

The delay has left its local distributor, Algjem Global Trading, unable to sell the product or move forward with a carbon finance project tied to it.

The logjam illustrates the pressure on Act 36 of 1947, the law that governs all fertilisers, farm feeds and agricultural and stock remedies. According to the government's website, registration can take anywhere from a few months to a year.

Algjem's first application was lodged more than a year ago. Its case might not seem unusual by the standards of South African bureaucracy, but the company faces a December 2025 cutoff date for farmers to join its carbon credit pilot project.

"Basically we've heard nothing," said John Mann, Algjem's chief operating officer. He described fortnightly check-ins with the department that return "no report at all". The company filed its first application more than a year ago, but was told there was a conflict over the original product name. It was resubmitted on 14 November 2024.

Since then, Algjem has written to senior officials in both the agriculture and environment departments. Replies have acknowledged its complaints, but no progress has followed.

The product in question was developed by a local biotechnology company and licensed to Algjem for the South African market. It promises to restore compacted soil, reduce chemical fertiliser use by up to 35%, improve water retention and lift yields, according to Andrew Geddes, Algjem's chief executive.

However, without an Act 36 registration number, none of it can be sold or distributed.