Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court of Malawi decision ordering State-owned Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) to pay K18.5 billion to 30 business operators for breach of contracts.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court noted that SFFRFM application sought to set aside the execution of a judgement that has not yet been finalised as general damages are still to be assessed further.
Lonjami Investment and 29 others commenced an action against the State-owned company at the High Court Commercial Division in Lilongwe, demanding the amount and other damages.
In the appeal judgement dated May 12 2026, Deputy Chief Justice Lovemore Chikopa observed that in March 2025 the High Court directed the two sides to file witness statements and arguments by May 2 that year which they did not comply.
“The applicant [SFFRFM] did not comply with the above order. They had not, by May 2 2025 filed and served any witness statements, skeleton arguments and a list of authorities,” the judgement reads in part.
The development moved the aggrieved entities to ask the court to strike out SFFRFM’s defence and enter judgement in their favour, arguing that the company had breached the court’s directions.
Chikopa said the respondents in the appeal case prayed that the case be dismissed on various grounds, including that it was incompetent, unsupported by any law, without merit, and that the decision being appealed against was not finalised.
He said: “It is clear that the stay application is against a judgement which, whatever might be said about it, is yet to be finalised. The general damages are yet to be assessed.
“The application for a stay of execution is, in so far as it targets an inchoate judgement, clearly superfluous. lt is accordingly dismissed.”
SFFRFM was established under the Trustees Incorporation Act of 1962 and is mandated to finance imports of fertiliser required for use by smallholder farmers in Malawi, including storage, sales, and distribution.
In recent years, it has been supplying subsidised farm inputs, including fertiliser, to small-scale farmers under the Farm Inputs Subsidy Programme.
