Stakeholders have expressed hope and relief following the approval of OCP Group fertilisers, paving the way for the Moroccan firm to not only bring the product in Malawi, but also localise its production.
The fertiliser varieties were approved after year-long efficacy evaluation trials facilitated by the ministries of Agriculture, Foreign Affairs and Trade and Industry in collaboration with local and Moroccan scientists.
Reads in part a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “A report detailing the results showed superior performance of the two fertilisers in increasing maize yields, improving soil health, but also increasing farmers’ gross margins in comparison to the fertilisers currently in use.”
The statement further says the Agriculture Technical Clearing Committee’s approval is a major milestone in increasing the availability and affordability of fertilisers in line with the Malawi Government’s fertiliser policy, which advocates for customised fertilisers that offer great value for money to farmers.
In an interview on Tuesday, National Commission for Science and Technology director general Gift Kadzamira confirmed that the two Moroccan phosphate fertilisers were approved.
Ministry of Trade and Industry spokesperson Patrick Botha in a interview on Tuesday described the milestone as key to its import substitution push as the country spends an average of $300 million (about K525 billion) to import fertilisers.
“We are aware of the scientific processes that OCP Africa fertilisers were undergoing, but our interest for now is the benefits such localised production would bring to the economy, especially on import substitution and trade balance issues,” he said.
Agricultural development policy expert Tamani Nkhono Mvula described the development as positive, considering that logistical costs contribute to Malawi’s high prices of fertilisers as the commodity is imported from east Asia or Middle East, very far from Africa.
“Buying fertiliser from Morocco would be cost- effective because really this is within Africa. This is very important for an agro-based economy like Malawi that cannot do without fertilisers,” he said.
Meanwhile, OCP Nutricrops, a subsidiary of OCP Group and a leader in phosphate- fertilisers, has announced a major investment to increase its fertiliser production capacity by nine million tonnes by 2028.
When he responded to questions in Parliament last year, President Lazarus Chakwera hinted on engaging the OCP Africa Group to set up a fertiliser factory in the country as his government’s long-term strategy to ease fertiliser prices, which rose to about K120 000 per 50 kilogramme during the last growing season.
The OCP Group, previously known as Office Chérifien des Phosphates, is Morocco’s largest State-owned phosphate miner and one of the major producers of fertilisers globally.
Malawi requires about 500 000 metric tonnes of fertilisers annually for Affordable Input Programmes and independent farmers, according to Ministry of Agriculture data.
