Ministry of Agriculture has pledged to work with the new leadership of Fertiliser Association of Malawi to strategise on how they can work together to bring in the soil-enriching ingredient.
Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said this in a written response last week following the ushering in of the association’s new executive committee.
“We are looking forward to meeting the new team and forge the way forward,” he said.
The minister’s assurance comes against a background of a cat and mouse relationship between government and the association in the past few years with the latter often attributing its fertiliser challenges to persistent forex shortages.
During the annual general meeting, Andrex Kalinde of Brussels Fertiliser Limited took over the mantle from Jimmy Dimitri Giannakis.
Kalinde is yet to give a statement on the expectations from his new position, but the association’s executive administrator Mbawaka Phiri in a written response said they believe transparency and sharing of data and facts from their industry is the most effective way to clear misunderstandings.
She said most misunderstandings stem from a lack of information; hence, the association makes information sharing a big part of its mission.
On proposed reforms in the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP), Phiri said the association has submitted suggestions both in reports they write annually on the initiative and in their paper titled ‘Smart subsidy’.
Said Phiri: “Our key suggestions include more focused beneficiary targeting, an earlier start time, and the use of the private sector in retailing as it increases options for farmers which reduces congestion.
“Ultimately, we believe the programme works better and benefits the agricultural industry at large when the private sector and government work together.”
Meanwhile, MBL Holdings Limited chairperson Leston Ted Mulli, who was among the notable executives that attended the meeting, has hailed Giannakis for steering the group to deliver quality products in the country.
In Malawi, 70 percent of the fertiliser supply is allocated to food crops and 30 percent to cash crops, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Food crops mainly consist of cereals, legumes and tubers.
Last October, the association said the country was unlikely to import 300 000 metric tonnes of fertiliser due to the persisting foreign exchange shortage that affected imports of various commodities.
The association was formed in 2007 in response to the government’s need for a public private partnership in the input subsidy programme.
