Malawi receives 500MT fertiliser from Morocco

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation says 500 metric tonnes (MT) out of the 1 000MT fertiliser donation from the Moroccan Government has arrived in the country. The ministry’s spokesperson Charles Nkhalamba said in an interview yesterday that trucks carrying the fertiliser entered Malawi through Songwe Border in Karonga between Wednesday night and yesterday. “The fertiliser is being transported to Lilongwe.

The remaining 500 MT is also on its way to Malawi,” he said. Nkhalamba said the ministry in collaboration with the Embassy of Morocco to Malawi will conduct a handover once the remaining fertiliser arrives. In November, Chaponda held a bilateral meeting with his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita in Rabat, Morocco where the donation was announced.

The donation comes as the government implements the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) which enables smallholder farmers to access a 50 kilogramme bag of fertiliser at K10 000. In his State of the Nation Address delivered on February 13, President Peter Mutharika told Parliament that Fisp redemption rate stood at 65 percent. Malawi requires about 500 000MT of fertilisers annually for Fisp and independent farmers, according to Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development data.