Fertiliser Association of Malawi says its members are still struggling to import fertiliser due to forex shortages and has warned the situation threatens efficient execution of government’s Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP).

In an interview yesterday, the association’s chief administrative officer Mbawaka Phiri said they are behind schedule in importing the commodity as the next agricultural season approaches from end October.

She said in normal circumstances, the importers place their fertiliser orders by March to ensure timely supply.

Said Phiri: “But we are behind time. We have been raising the forex question since March and up to now this is yet to be resolved.

“To make matters worse, we are not the only country in need of fertiliser as we have to compete with our neighbours such as Zambia and Zimbabwe who also import large volumes.”

She said the country has less than 100 000 metric tonnes (MT) of fertiliser against a demand of at least 300 000MT.

Figures provided by the association show that in a normal season, fertiliser demand stands at about 350 000MT, which consists of about 100 000MT commercial sales and 250 000MT for the State-funded AIP.

Corroborated interviews with members of the association show that the importation process takes between three and four months.

On whether availability of foreign exchange today would have any impact on the importation process amid the fast approaching growing season, Phiri said it would help to priortise importation of NPK which is needed earlier than Urea.

Ministry of Agriculture says it will not comment on any issues surrounding implementation of the 2022/23 AIP.

The ministry’s spokesperson Gracian Lungu referred The Nation to Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs on the forex question.

But Treasury spokesperson Taurai Banda, Secretary to the Treasury MacDonald Mafuta Mwale and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Sosten Gwengwe were all unreachable on their known mobile phones yesterday until we went to press.

In a separate interview on the issue yesterday, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources economist Horace Phiri described the situation as worrisome.

“This has been a long-standing issue, we have been talking about it for months. I would like to believe that some actions are being taken in terms of equipping the farmers with alternatives on how they can minimise the impacts of having little or no access to fertiliser,” he said.

In June this year, it emerged that local fertiliser firms were failing to service outstanding bills in excess of $120 million (about K124 billion) with suppliers abroad, making them unable to order the commodity due to the chronic foreign exchange shortage.

In a letter dated June 16 2022 addressed to the Ministry of Agriculture and copied to Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs as well as the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), Fertiliser Association of Malawi said the logistics window for importing fertiliser for the 2022/23 agriculture season was shrinking.

However, this approximate demand can increase depending on the size of the subsidy programme, which has been between 300 000MT and 350 000 MT in the past two seasons.

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