MBS moves to flush out substandard fertiliser

The Malawi Bureau of Standard (MBS) has launched a nationwide market survey aimed at flushing out substandard fertiliser on the market.

Speaking during the official launch of the exercise in Chikwawa on Monday, MBS public relations officer Monica Khomba said so far, they have identified some suppliers with substandard fertiliser and have been ordered out of the market until the situation is rectified.

She said: “It is within our mandate to ensure that fertiliser is of good quality and meeting standards of Malawi.

“Some agro-dealers are meeting the standards while others are being advised to work on products and others have been quarantined until amendments are made.”

Khomba said the bureau has ordered fertiliser found to weigh below 500 grammes of the recommended quantity not to be sold to consumers.

The MBS Act mandates the bureau to check the conformance of designated imported products to relevant Malawian standards through imports quality monitoring regulations.

Under the regulations, importers are required to submit a pre-shipment sample and then acquire an import licence.

Prior to arrival of the product consignment at the port of entry, the importer is required to declare it to MBS offices for an import inspection registration form whose fees include registration (K8 2661), inspection and sampling (calculated as 0.65 of the landed value with K25 000 minimum and K50 000 maximum), testing fee ranging from K19 500 to K500 000 based on fertiliser type and reporting fee at K9 183.90 plus 16.5 percent value-added tax.

One of the buyers interviewed at one of the agro dealers, Malingamoyo Chanza, whose fertiliser has since been quarantined, said farmers fall victim to such malpractices and they rely on authorities to help with standard supervision.

“I had no idea that this fertiliser was 500 grammes short. I wanted to buy two bags and this means I could have lost a kilogramme to this and it is a lot,” said the farmers.

In an interview, agriculture development policy expert Tamani Nkhono-Mvula said the initiative by MBS is good, but lack of proper regulation to guard the fertiliser industry is a setback.

He said: “We need is a specific law on fertiliser. The Fertiliser Bill to be finalised and passed in Parliament has put in pace good measures to curb this malpractice.

“What MBS is doing is good, but we need to go beyond that and make sure that people that indulge in such kind of malpractice are properly punished.”

The nationwide exercise, which started last week, is expected to end next week.