Firm eyes organic fertiliser production

 A local investment firm, Rural Development Investment Holdings (Rudevit) plans to invest in an organic fertiliser manufacturing plant to respond to the country’s agricultural production requirements amid rising prices.

In a statement made available to Business Review, Rudevit board chairperson Hastings Bofomo Nyirenda said the firm already consucted a feasibility and will soon carry out an environmental assessment.

Reads the statement in part: “The company has seen the gap in fertiliser suppliers occasioned by the soaring prices on the international market in the past years and further being exacerbated by the ongoing conflicts in Europe which tends to be the major supplier of fertiliser to Malawi.”

Nyirenda said the project will lead to integrated fertiliser application that will, apart from reducing the cost of production, help to improve agricultural productivity among both smallholder and commercial farmers.

He said: “It is believed that organic fertilisers do not harm the environment while retaining moisture in the soils, thereby improving soil texture.”

Nyirenda said the company has been working on financing modalities for the project, which when effected, will see the first batch of 25 000 metric tonnes on the market in the 2022/2023 season.

The company has since acquired land in Blantyre where the first machinery will be planted before rolling out to all strategic agricultural districts countrywide.

Agriculture policy commentator Tamani Nkhono-Mvula described the planned investment as ideal for the country’s agro-based economy.

He said: “One of the biggest issues in the fertiliser sector in Malawi is the issue to do with logistics and timeliness of fertiliser to reach the country, taking into consideration that we are a landlocked country and affected by what is happening in the world.

“For instance, currently much of our fertiliser comes from Russia and the Middle East. Now with what is happening in Russia, obviously, we are going to have challenges with supply of fertiliser. When you have alternative initiatives like these, this becomes good news and something we need to promote.”

Lately, there has been an increase in fertiliser prices in the country mostly as a result of global economic factors