Committee wants ministry to explain K70 billion claim
Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture has summoned Ministry of Agriculture officials to explain allegations that it is being pressured to pay East Bridge K70 billion for fertiliser importation.
Committee chairperson Sameer Suleman said in an interview on Wednesday that his body will engage the ministry’s officials to seek answers on reports that officials from the Attorney General’s office are pushing for the payment.
Suleman said the ministry is also expected to explain why government is still involved in the affairs of the Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund (SFFRFM), as the agency “still does not have an internal procurement committee after the previous one was dissolved”.
He said as a committee, they are also concerned with what he described as “mishandling of the 2024/25 Affordable Inputs Programme [AIP]”.
“People are being threatened that they will be fired if that payment [to East Bridge] is not made. We will not let this happen on our watch.
“SFFRFM is not involved in the procurement process, only agriculture officials,” Suleman said.
But both Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale and AG Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda did not respond to our messages and calls.
The ministry last year turned to SFFRFM for AIP fertiliser procurement after a failed deal with East Bridge for procurement of 600 000 metric tonnes (MT) of fertiliser.
Figures provided by the Fertiliser Association of Malawi (FAM) reveal that the country is stocked with 44 698 MT of Urea and 41 037 MT of NPK while stocks at Beira, Nacala and Dar es Salaam ports stand at 67 300 MT of Urea and 66 400 MT of NPK.
Stocks at sea stand at 149 100 MT which, according to FAM, the country is expecting to import adds up to 368 535 MT of fertiliser.
FAM executive administrator Mbawaka Phiri, however, said in an interview on Wednesday that the forex situation has not improved; hence, companies are still reporting difficulty in securing forex for imports.
She said most of the stock at the ports is held under collateral management and it is only released when companies secure financing.
“If financing is not secured, the stocks are diverted to other customers in the region. If this happens, Malawi will import fewer stocks than usual which may lead to import levels below the national consumption requirement.
“Just to add to this, there was some availability of forex shortly after the tobacco sales concluded, but now the companies are experiencing challenges again,” she said.
According to Phiri, Malawi consumes between 400 000 MT and 450 000 MT of fertiliser a year, which means this year imports will decrease between 31 465 and 81 465 MT.
Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources agricultural economist Horace Phiri said in an interview yesterday Malawi is already the lowest in the region in terms of fertiliser usage per hectare and any import reduction will also mean less productivity and subsequent low yield.
“With low fertiliser usage, we are further degrading our soils. Government must prioritise increasing fertiliser imports. However, last year we had lesser fertilisers and if we can beat last year’s target then we are better off. We remain optimistic the forex situation will improve,” he said.
