State-owned Smallholder Farmers Fertiliser Revolving Fund of Malawi (SFFRFM) is promoting the use of liquid fertiliser as a cheaper and highly effective alternative to granular products.
SFFRFM has entered into a distribution agreement with Agventure Resources Limited Malawi to make the liquid Urea fertiliser or Nano Urea fertiliser available to farmers across the country.
Agventure Resources Limited Malawi managing director Bhupender Singh, whose firm is the official distributor of the Nano Urea produced in India, said in an interview yesterday in Blantyre that a 500 millilitre(ml) bottle of Nano Urea is equivalent to a 50 kilogramme (kg) bag of granular Urea fertiliser.
He explained that Nano Urea is 90 percent effective while for granular fertiliser only 30 percent is utilised and absorbed by the plant.
“The size of Nano Urea makes it easier for its particles to spread into the plant’s system which reduces losses of nutrients into the environment and increases yields by 10 percent,” said Singh.
He added that more than 18 000 bottles are already available in Malawi and the agreement with SFFRFM is that it will pay in both Malawi kwacha and United States dollars.
SFFRFM will be selling Nano Urea at about K76 000 per 500ml bottle, which is lower than the K90 000 price for a 50 kg bag of granular fertiliser.
Nano Urea can be applied to all crops which require Urea including maize, tobacco, vegetables and cotton.
The product is being used in 38 countries including Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia, according to Singh.
SFFRFM spokesperson Grace Thipa said the fund has conducted training for its sales clerks regarding Nano Urea fertiliser so that they can pass on the information to smallholder farmers and agro-dealers.
She further said that the fund will also raise awareness about the liquid fertiliser and its benefits through community engagements.
SFFRFM was established in 1988 with the mandate to ensure that there is importation, distribution and sale of fertiliser to smallholder farmers across the country.
