By Kondwani Magombo

Lilongwe, October 10, Mana: The resolution is “to be inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialized upper-middle-income country by the year 2063”. Supporting this resolution are three pillars: Agricultural Productivity and Commercialization; Industrialization; and Urbanization.

The Malawi 2063 First 10-Year Implementation Plan (MIP 1) is on the roll with a call for every Malawian to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Investors have claimed a position in the forefront of the movement to make the desired national destiny a reality.

Among such investors are Bakhresa Malawi Ltd., Crossroads Hotel, and Pixus Agriculture. The three investors have, separately, embraced the three pillars of MIP 1 with huge investment projects currently underway.

Bakhresa Malawi Ltd, for instance, has embarked on an industrial project involving construction of US$100m cooking oil plant near the company’s headquarters in Limbe.

“We are investing in a brand new, modern Soya bean continuous Solvent Extraction and Vegetable Oil Refinery plant with the capacity to crush 500 tons of soya beans per day,” the company’s General Manager, Venkatesh RAO Pattipati, disclosed during a recent tour of flagship projects by the National Planning Commission (NPC) and its partners.

“We have commenced the project work with a target to bring the plant into operation at the earliest possible time,” he continued.

Bakhresa Malawi’s new investment will be in additional to the company’s known ventures, namely; wheat milling and fortification, Azam Laundry soap manufacturing, and Azam TV DTH subscription management services and, lately, dubbing and recording studio.

Coming along with the new edge-cutting-technology cooking oil plant are a number of economic benefits which include job creation, foreign currency through export revenue, and low prices of cooking oil, according to Pattipati.

Pattipati – The investment will have more economic benefits

“When operating on full scale, this project is expected to create direct employment for about 1,000 Malawians and, indirectly, thousands will get employed in its total value chain ecosystem,” explained the General Manager.

The company envisage to be procuring about 150,000 to 180,000 tons of soya beans requirement per year, a demand that will likely stimulate small holder farmers to grow more soya bean to satisfy the readily available market.

Bakhresa Malawi Ltd. also plans to introduce new soya seed varieties with 4 times higher yield performance than the current varieties, a development Pattipati believes will attract contract farmers from the private sector to join.

On foreign currency, the company expects the new investment to help reduce the country’s dependency on imported crude oil, thereby saving the much needed foreign currency for the nation.

“By exporting highly value added products manufactured locally by local value addition using soya beans, the country can get better foreign exchange than exporting raw soya beans,” Pattipati observed.

According to the general manager, all the equipment for the cooking oil refinery plant is ready for shipping. However, the company is yet to make payment due to the current foreign currency challenges that the country is experiencing.

Elsewhere in Blantyre, Crossroads Hotel has embraced the urbanization pillar of the MIP 1 by venturing into 3 big projects at one place at Mount Present, near the College of Medicine Sports Complex.

The projects include construction of “Level-6” filling station; a shopping mall and 150-space-capacity car park; and a four-storey hotel with a parking space for up to 50 cars.

According to Managing Director for Crossroads Hotel – Blantyre, Taheer Sacranie, the projects will be implemented in phases – starting with the filling station, which has already been completed and it is due for opening.

Sacranie (in sunglasses) shows NPC DG, Dr. Munthali (R) and team the site for the hotel project Pic. By Kondwani Magombo, Mana

“We are done with the construction of the filling station, which has been classified as Level-6 basing on its design, and we will be opening it this November,” explained Sacranie, during the tour of flagship projects.

“The shopping mall and carpark project will commence in November 2022, to be followed by the Hotel project,” he added.

On the other hand, in Kanengo, Lilongwe, Pyxus Agriculture is another investor who is set to promote the two pillars of the MIP 1, namely: Industrialization, Agricultural Productivity and Commercialization.

According to the company’s Managing Director, Ronald Ngwira, Pyxus exists in 38 countries across the world but, in Malawi, it started its operations in 2019.

The company’s main focus is to produce “high quality, traceable value added groundnut products for domestic, regional and international markets”.

Ngwira (R) briefs the team on Pyxus groundnut products Pic. By Kondwani Magombo _ Mana

The company is also focused on producing and supplying high quality seeds of next generation varieties for contracted farmers domestically, regionally, as well as third party businesses and producers.

“We have our own smart farms and we are currently working with more than 7,000 farmers in the country to produce ground nuts,” Ngwira explained during a recent tour.

He added: “We are working with over 15 universities across the world conducting various researches to improve our seed and crop production.”

From the groundnuts Pyxus Agriculture is leaving nothing to waste as the company is crushing and processing the shells into pellets, which can be used for animal feed, or for cooking, replacing charcoal.

Other than groundnuts, Pyxus Agriculture is also conducting trials for other crops such as beans, wheat, and onion in the company’s farms.

A pivot irrigation machine at one of Pyxus’ Farms located at Santhe Pic. By Kondwani Magombo, Mana

The main challenges facing Pyxus Agriculture, according to Ngwira, are fuel shortages and power outages that have become common in the country.

“If we are serious about the issue of mega farms, we need to deal with the issues surrounding fuel and power,” Ngwira told the NPC touring team, adding that the company loses millions of Kwacha on diesel (if the commodity is available) for irrigation in the farms when there’s no power.

The pace that investors like Bakhresa Malawi Ltd., Crossroads Hotel and Pyxus Agriculture have taken in implementing flagship projects, despite all challenges, has left NPC and its partners more than impressed.

NPC Director General, Dr. Thomas Chataghalala Munthali, observed through a questionnaire that Malawi’s attainment of the middle-income milestone by 2030 as envisaged in MIP-1, requires “radical and huge investments” like the three visited by the team.

On the challenges highlighted by the investors, such as delays in giving out of fiscal incentives, export permits, electricity connections, and Malawi Bureau of Standards certification, Munthali said his Commission, in conjunction with the Presidential Delivery Unit, would be following up with the relevant MDAs.

“Currently, regionally and beyond, the investment climate is not as conducive due to a number of external shocks leading to a very hostile macroeconomic environment; So, any big investor showing interest to invest, let alone having already made some investments into Malawi, needs to be fully supported,” Munthali said.

He continued: “…Firms [such] as Pyxus and Bakhresa that the Commission and partners visited are investing in massive agro processing, offering big forward-backward linkages with MSMEs and local farming communities. So one expects relevant Government MDAs to give them all the support required for their smooth production so they can thrive and be retained in Malawi.”

For projects such as the one Crossroads is implementing, Munthali said the Commission will continue engaging relevant authorities for timely issuance of required take-off aspects such as Environment and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) approvals.

“We don’t have the luxury of time as a country: Supporting initiatives that will create jobs, wealth, and food security at the shortest time possible will entail enhanced levels of accountability and ensuring that the coordinating MDAs have the requisite capacities to facilitate implementation of the flagship projects and catalytic interventions in MIP-1.

“The Commission will continue placing emphasis on its implementation oversight role because the Vision will only be as good as its implementation,” he concluded.

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