Chakwera commits to private sector growth
President Lazarus Chakwera says his administration is committed to unlocking the challenges that affect the country’s private sector investments to facilitate jobs, wealth creation and food security for economic growth.
The President said this on Monday when he launched Pyxus Agriculture Limited’s Groundnut Processing Plant at Kanengo Industrial Area in Lilongwe.
He described the processing plant as a landmark achievement.
Chakwera said: “What Pyxus has done here is a landmark achievement and has my administration’s full support. Food processing businesses like this one are music to my ears because they guarantee markets for our farmers and growers, as well as jobs for our youth.
“It is no small thing that this food processing plant is the largest in the region, with a processing capacity of 50 000 metric tonnes [MT] of groundnuts.”
He said the processing plant is expected to employ about 100 workers once fully operational and has already contracted close to 6 800 farmers to supply groundnuts for value addition, with a potential for increased incomes for 30 000 people in three to five years .
“It is, therefore, the commitment of my government to support anyone in the private sector who wishes to move in a similar direction by removing the political, legislative, and administrative roadblocks that may stand in your way. It is our commitment to ensure that the full potential of agri-business is realised and maximised,” he said.
One practical way of rendering that support to the private sector, Chakwera said, will be through the intervention of the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) to which, in the upcoming quarter, he will be adding private sector investments to its portfolio to remove roadblocks to private enterprises.
The President then announced the formation of a Private Sector Council to comprise representatives of various key sectors that will be interacting with him directly on a quarterly basis.
In his remarks, Pyxus Agriculture Limited managing director Ronald Ngwira said they have invested about $3 million (about K2.4 billion) in the establishment of the groundnut processing plant.
He said the plant will be adding value to all groundnut value chains from turning shells into briquettes, polishing groundnuts into bags for exports, precision sizing, producing groundnut oil and peanut butter, among other products.
Ngwira said: “This is the largest groundnut shelling plant on the continent outside of South Africa and stands as a gateway to create many opportunities in the value chain from seed all the way to a wide range of finished goods to feed the country, continent and the world at large.”
He said currently they have 1 600 employees working on the farms including extension service workers and 500 permanent workers at the administration office.
Ngwira said the $3 million capital has been drawn from the group holdings and through Germany’s KFW who contributed through United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for smallholder cooperatives $850 000 (about K697 million) for irrigation and mechanisation.
On his part, Minister of Trade Mark Katsonga Phiri said in recent decades, Malawi has been experiencing a chronic negative balance of trade due to lack of value-added products for exports; hence, the plant will contribute to bridging the gap.
“This development has the potential to create employment, wealth, tax revenue and foreign exchange generation,” he said.
Pyxus Agriculture Limited is owned by United States of America investors under Pyxus International Inc. which is a global agricultural company united behind a common purpose of transforming people’s lives to grow a better world.
