The Ministry of Agriculture has awarded contracts to 13 companies to supply 149,164 metric tonnes (mt) of NPK and Urea fertiliser under the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP).
Minister responsible Sam Kawale said the companies already have about 80,000mt of fertiliser in the country, with an expectation to have the remaining chunk before the launch of the exercise.
Kawale said processes to procure transport services are also at an advanced stage, with the process of awarding contracts to successful bidders scheduled to be done by July 31 this year.
He further said the procurement of seeds and goats for the programme will be advertised in widely circulated newspapers this week.
“As directed by the President [Lazarus Chakwera] that all fertiliser procurement processes for the 2023 season be done by the end of June, we are glad to let Malawians know that we have made progress. We expect that smallholder farmers will have farm inputs before the first planting rains.
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“The ministry is committed to continuously improve all the processes involved in accessing farm inputs as well as doing things in a timely manner and ensure effectiveness, efficiency and productivity,” Kawale said.
The minister then asked smallholder farmers to prepare their gardens in preparation for the 2023-24 growing season.
Chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Sameer Suleman commended the government for the development but said it has failed to meet 60 percent of local suppliers’ initiative.
Suleman said committee members have observed that only three local companies will supply the fertilisers, a development he described as “unfortunate”.
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“Issues of local suppliers’ initiative have not been taken seriously; we see that very few [local suppliers] have been awarded the contract.
“However, we commended the government for the progress made and hope that they will not interfere with the entire process,” Suleman said.
He then said their committee will visit the companies to verify if they are ready to supply fertiliser to Malawians.
About 1.7 million smallholder farmers are expected to benefit from this year’s AIP.
