Surging fertilizer prices amid gas shortages stirred debates last night, with the nation’s talking heads handing the mic to industry insiders and officials to weigh in on the impacts of the crisis.

Ahmed Moussa sounded the alarm over a steep rise in fertilizer prices, telling his viewers on his show Ala Masouleety that urea prices have recently soared to EGP 700-800 per bag, from EGP 250-300 (watch, runtime: 3:03).

The Agriculture Ministry called in to address concerns: “The current spike in fertilizer prices is temporary and will normalize once production resumes at fertilizer factories,” Agriculture Ministry advisor Mohamed Fahim told Moussa over the phone (watch, runtime: 3:05). Fahim noted that while “there is a shortage in the market, it isn’t yet affecting agricultural operations due to reserves of subsidized fertilizers in agricultural cooperatives”.

ALSO ON THE AIRWAVES- Ethiopia begins fifth filling of the GERD soon: Ethiopia started the fifth filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on 20 July and will continue until September, Cairo University professor Abbas Sharaky told Sherif Amer (watch, runtime: 24:06). Sharaky commented that “Ethiopian officials confirmed that the filling of the GERD is now off the negotiation table. Sharaky warned that “as long as there are no negotiations, Ethiopia has the option to store all remaining water,” highlighting the threat by stating that “every liter of water currently stored in the dam is taken from Egypt’s share.”

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