By Wanangwa Tembo
Member of Parliament (MP) for Kasungu North, Mike Bango, says beneficiaries of the National Economic Empowerment Fund (NEEF) Farm Input Loan Programme could make more profits if they sell their produce at Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc).
Bango believes that farmers will get good prices at Admarc and prevent wasting away their produce at low prices offered by vendors and therefore, asked the government to consider supporting the state grain buyer so that it starts buying produce early enough.
He said this on Tuesday when Minister of Information and Digitalisation, Moses Kunkuyu, launched the disbursement of fertiliser under the 2024/25 NEEF Farm Input Loan Programme at Kaluluma in Kasungu District.
“While I appreciate the role that vendors play in the economy, they offer low prices to farmers. This is why I plead with the government to prepare Admarc so that it should be the entity buying produce from these beneficiaries.
“If this happens, we are assured of our farmers making a good profit to service the loans with ease, while at the same time the government will have enough stock of maize which can be properly sold to better markets outside the country and get forex,” Bango said.
The Malawi Congress Party legislature asked chiefs to be vigilant and ensure that people should not sell the inputs accessed under the programme.
“This is a good initiative that will help us here in the rural areas to realise the vision that we must prosper together hence we must use the inputs for the intended purpose,” he said.
In his remarks, Kunkuyu said the programme is part of the government’s strategies to help in the generation of forex and also make the country’s food sufficient.
“It is in the history of this country that we used to produce enough and feed other countries as well. The reason is that people had access to farm inputs.
“President Lazarus Chakwera says we should go back to that time, give people inputs and harvest more produce. Our farms are the same, we can do it,” he said.
He said the government has put in place various structural mechanisms to revitalise the agriculture sector so that there is food security as well as surplus produce for export.
One of the beneficiaries Daniel Lubanga and Senior Chief Kaluluma lauded the government for the initiative and called for its sustainability, describing the programme as being both productive and self-sustaining.
The government plans to spend K150 billion for the programme targeting 400 000 farmers across the country after registering successes in the last years K27 billion investment which benefitted 11 500 farming entities.
According to NEEF Boar Chairperson Jephta Mtema, the fund has so far disbursed over K160 billion in other types of loans since 2021, with a national loan repayment average of 85 percent.
