Malawi in fertiliser crisis

There was a minor debate in Parliament yesterday regarding the unavailability of fertiliser sold under the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) in Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) depots in the country.

Mzimba North legislator Yeremiah Chihana (Alliance for Democracy), speaking under Standing Order number 69 wanted Minister of Agriculture Lobin Lowe to explain when Admarc depots will be provided with fertiliser.

He said government should speed up negotiations with the International Fertiliser Association as farmers who have already planted their crops are waiting for fertiliser.

Said Chihana: “My appeal to the minister was to make sure that the fertiliser that is available is not being smuggled or exported. Another thing that I wanted clearance on was that even if we import fertiliser, with restrictions due to Covid-19, Malawi can only get it in March, which will be too late for farmers as the farming season will be going towards the end.”

Responding to the question, Lowe said when the suppliers were reluctant to sell fertiliser to government at the offered price, they negotiated and a go-ahead was given to suppliers, who agreed to offer their fertiliser at that price.

He, however, said procurement of the fertiliser has reached an advanced stage and that from next week, about 150 000 metric tonnes (MT) will be available for sale to AIP beneficiaries.

“Government, through my ministry, will make sure that fertiliser under AIP is not smuggled and that it stays within the country for the local farmers to benefit,” the minister said.

Lowe added that suppliers are free to sell their fertiliser to whoever they want and that those in contract with the government will protect the AIP fertiliser.

Chihana was not impressed with Lowe’s response as he said the government is not clear on who will supply the 150 000 MT.

“I doubt if this fertiliser will be available come next week,” he said.

In an interview, Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture chairperson Sameer Suleman said the situation on the ground—that Malawi does not have fertiliser in depots—is unacceptable.

He said: “We should accept that AIP is facing challenges due to a number of reasons and one of them is that the Ministry of Agriculture relied so much on a few suppliers. This is a cartel that I have been talking about. They made a mistake by relying on these people who brought in fertiliser, but they are keeping it in their warehouses due to selfish reasons.

“The suppliers want to hold the government to ransom because there is no fertiliser thereby pushing it to pay what they demand.”

Suleman also attributed the AIP challenges to late preparations in the 2021-2022 growing season.

He advised on the need to empower Admarc and the Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi to be reliable entities to procure and sell fertiliser to Malawians.

Meanwhile, in his closing remarks for the 49th Session of the 4th Meeting of Parliament, which commenced on 8 November, Leader of Opposition Kondwani Nankhumwa (Democratic Progressive Party) said President Lazarus Chakwera has failed to provide the critical leadership that Malawians need.

“The price of fertiliser has just gone up. To worsen the situation, the government has not only raised taxes, but it has also introduced a litany of other taxes to confirm the total condemnation of Malawians to poverty,” he said.

Speaker Catherine Gotani-Hara adjourned the meeting by commending the legislators who religiously participated in the four-week session.