Demand for agro-products rises—Mitc

The Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc) says there is rising demand for Malawi’s agro commodities on the international market.

Mitc chief executive officer Paul Kwengwere said this on Friday during the Malawi Agriculture Investment Forum in Lilongwe organised by the  Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).

He said: “As per our role which is to promote exports, we have been to different countries and we have met a number of potential buyers. Some of them have already given us the quantities and indicative prices.

“One factor we need to consider though is sustainability, because that is what buyers carefully consider whether we have the capacity to satisfy their requirements when they need the goods.”

Kwengwere said what is required now is to strengthen coordination between the farmers and local investors to improve productivity and quality of products.

FAO assistant representative George Phiri said agrifood systems in Malawi face challenges such as low investment and inadequate support services.

He said: “We need to improve on the adoption of market-oriented services to support all scales of farmers.

“As government has taken a bold stance on improving agricultural productivity across the country, we also need to strengthen market linkages that is why we have invited business captains to be part of this forum.”

On his part, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said the platform was an opportunity for farmers and investors to understand opportunities in the agricultural value chains.

“So, basically what we are saying is that there are so many opportunities in this sector, but farmers and even investors do not know about them.

“So, we organised this forum to give them that missing information.”

He said government will not relent to linking farmers and investors to see how best Malawi can capitalise on the international market opportunities.