Ministry Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development says the newly-launched 15-year Malawi Coffee Strategy has the potential to turn the coffee sub-sector into a strong value chain capable of earning $240 million (about K420 billion) annually by 2040.
Speaking during the launch in Lilongwe on Thursday, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Roza Fatch Mbilizi said the strategy outlines reforms in regulation, research, markets and sustainable production.
She said efficient implementation of the strategy that runs from 2025 to 2040 can help Malawi reach the projected revenues even earlier, citing growing global demand for the crop.
“The strategy is actually targeting our smallholder farmers and they should be organised in cooperatives.
“What they need is to produce well graded coffee,” said Mbilizi.
In his remarks, Malawi University of Science and Technology associate professor of environment and development David Mkwambisi, whose institution facilitated the strategy’s formulation, called for strengthening of the institutional framework, including setting up a Coffee Control Commission.
“What is currently lacking is an institutional framework on the part of the government to lead in policy implementation as they regulate the sector,” he said.
Phoka Coffee Growers Society representative Mfumukazi Kampendanga said the strategy will help to solve the challenges cooperatives in the coffee sector are facing in terms of markets availability..
The strategy falls under a €15 million (about K31 billion) Italian Government-funded initiative through the Advancing Climate Resilient and Transformation in African Coffee Project, being implemented in five African countries of Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi.
In May this year, Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union Limited e-business communication and technology officer Joseph Chidwala decried smuggling, saying it is crippling the business of the country’s specialty coffee exporter which has lost half of its export earnings.
He said in 2024, they were expected to export 350 metric tonnes (MT) of specialty coffee, but only exported less than 200MT.
Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Decentralisation data shows that the export value of coffee has been fluctuating in recent years, raking in $2.8 million (about K4.9 billion) in 2021, falling to $1.1 (about K1.9 billion) in 2022, before picking up to $1.6 (about K2.8 billion) and $3.4 (about K6 billion) in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
