Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) says the skyrocketing prices of fertiliser in the country pose a threat to crop yields during the 2024/25 growing season.
The union’s fears come against a background of spot checks in the country showing that fertiliser prices have gone up by an average of K6 000 over the past week.
Last week, a 50 kilogramme (kg) bag of NPK fertiliser was selling at K109 000 while Urea was at K106 000. But spot checks conducted yesterday revealed that a 50kg bag of NPK in various agro-dealer shops was fetching K115 000 while Urea was selling at K112 000.
A shop assistant at one of the agro-dealer outlets in Blantyre, who opted for anonymity, said the prices have raisen twice this week.
“There is a possibility that we will likely raise prices again if the rains fall again,” she said.
The prices of fertiliser have risen significantly from an average of K93 000 bag for NPK and K90 000 for Urea in September this year.
Speaking in an interview, FUM president Mannes Nkhata said the high fertiliser prices are beyond the reach of most smallholder farmers in the country.
“The implication is that very few farmers will be able to apply fertilisers at recommended rates; hence, the country should brace for another year of low production and hunger,” she said.
Nkhata further said that poor implementation of this year’s Affordable Inputs Programme has also worsened the situation.
The AIP targeting 1 054 945 beneficiaries has been marred by delays and disparity in availability of inputs with 10 403.20 metric tonnes (MT) of the required 104 000MT of fertiliser distributed as of November 4 2024.
Fertiliser Association of Malawi executive administration officer Hannah Makhambera told The Nation last week that unavailability of foreign exchange has brought challenges for suppliers in paying for imported fertilisers and this has pushed up prices of the commodity in the country.
Data from the association show that out of its 335 000 MT as at November 2024 129 25MT is at the ports of Beira and Nacala in Mozambique and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and delivery to Malawi is dependent on suppliers sourcing foreign exchange.
Malawi requires between 400 000 and 500 000MT of fertiliser annually.
