Fertiliser plant to reduce fertiliser price
Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) has unveiled plans to set up a fertiliser manufacturing plant in Blantyre as part of its five-year strategic plan.
Speaking during the launch of the plan on Tuesday in Blantyre, the company’s chief executive officer Andy Kalinde said the plant will help to reduce the price of fertiliser on the market.
He said: “We want to move forward. Time is gone when we have to be stocking fertiliser. Instead we want to be manufacturing fertiliser locally.”
Kalinde said the fertiliser plant is expected to be up and running by 2022 and three international organisations are ready to partner the parastatal.
SFFRFM board chairperson, who is also Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Gray Nyandule-Phiri, expressed satisfaction with the strategic plan, saying it will guide the company’s operations in the next five years.
He said the fertiliser plant will mostly benefit farmers.
About a decade or so ago, a Taiwanese firm wanted to set up a similar plant, but the plans were abandoned after Malawi Government switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to People’s Republic of China in 2007.
Malawi imports about 200 000 metric tonnes of fertiliser every year, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development.
