Erratic funding stalls ricevalue chain investment
The move by Green Belt Authority (GBA) to establish a rice value chain investment in Karonga District through Nthola Ilola Project has stalled due to funding challenges, it has emerged.
The K18 billion Malawi Government-funded project has only received K3 billion since it rolled out in 2020, with only construction of a rice mill and water intake on Lake Malawi.
In an interview when National Planning Commission officials visited the venture, GBA director of irrigation and operations Chisomo Kumbuyo said the project needs more money than the initial cost projection of K18 billion.
He could, however, not provide the total revised cost of the project, saying they need more time to factor in the impact of 25 percent devaluation of the kwacha in 2022 and 44 percent devaluation in November last year.
Kumbuyo said there is still more work to construct security fence, several supporting infrastructure and the installation of irrigation facilities for the 1 000-hectare rice scheme to be implemented by local farmers who will be supplying rice for processing and packaging by GBA.
He said GBA is currently in talks with State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) to partner in the venture while exploring other partnership opportunities on marketing and financing.
Said Kumbuyo: “There have been a number of challenges regarding this project, some of which are inadequate and sporadic financing.
“That has kept us off-track as regards our targets and in the long-term, it has caused the project to be more expensive.”
Kumbuyo cited the construction of a warehouse, rice drying facility and administration block, saying these were prioritised because they are part of the requirements by Malawi Bureau of Standards before certifying the factory to produce packaged rice.
NPC director general Thomas Chataghalala Munthali said this is one of the projects that is a key intervention to the Malawi 2063 First 10-Year Implementation Plan, whose progress was reported at 43 percent.
He said NPC, the Malawi 2063 oversight and implementation agency, is interested to see the project completed on time and starts contributing to agricultural commercialisation, industrialisation and manufacturing.
The Nthola Ilola Rice Scheme Project includes rice production under irrigation, which will be processed and packaged for retail on local and international markets.
The entourage that visited the project also included officials from Mwapata Institute and Presidential Delivery Unit and was aimed at identifying key challenges stalling strategic projects to get highest level intervention in need be
