MCCCI Champions Growth Focused Agribusiness Climate

Key Business Points

1. Push for lower costs and simpler rules to attract private sector investment in agriculture, focusing on irrigation, mechanisation and technology.
2. Strengthen links between farmers, processors, buyers and financiers to turn raw output into higher value products and create market‑ready value addition and market linkages.
3. Use the National Agriculture Fair as a platform to network, secure deals and access advice that can grow small and medium enterprises.

Malawi’s business leaders urge the government to create climate for private sector investment in agriculture, saying commercial success depends on value addition, technology and market‑oriented value chains. At opening of 22nd National Agriculture Fair in Blantyre, MCCCI president Ronald Ngwira said authorities must make it cheaper and easier for businesses to invest while the private sector leads the transformation of a sector that contributes about 25 percent of GDP into a commercially viable engine of growth.

Ngwira, who also heads Illovo Sugar Malawi plc, stressed need to produce efficiently, add value and connect production to profitable markets. He said government must set enabling environment, but private sector must drive the commercial transformation of agriculture. The fair has grown beyond simple exhibition into a business platform where policy meets practice, research meets market and finance meets enterprise. Last year’s event generated deals worth about K2.4 billion in dairy and honey and over K100 million in farm equipment sales.

Minister of Agriculture Irrigation and Water Development Roza Mbilizi said Malawi must move beyond producing commodities to earning more from what it produces through agro processing, stronger market linkages and investment in storage, packaging and logistics. She noted the shift requires closer links between farmers, processors, buyers, exporters and financial institutions, with the private sector playing a critical role in investing in production, mechanisation, irrigation, processing, storage and marketing.

Mbilizi emphasized that government alone cannot achieve the industrialisation ambitions set out in Malawi 2063, the long‑term plan that aims to turn the country into a lower middle‑income economy by 2030 and an upper middle‑income status by 2063.

Local entrepreneurs shared challenges. Vincent Malinga, managing director of Atecko Investment and Bee‑Keeping in Dedza, said limited financial resources constrain expansion and foreign exchange scarcity affects honey wine production because the firm relies on imported bottles.

Despite these hurdles, fair participants expressed optimism that better access to finance, improved infrastructure and stronger business networks can unlock new opportunities.

The fair’s theme this year is ‘Transforming agriculture through innovation, value addition and market linkages‘. Seventy‑seven exhibitors covering input supply, agro processing, farmer organisations, research, livestock and business services are present. The opening day featured informal buyer‑seller meetings that let farmers, SMEs pitch products to processors, financiers and exporters.

The second day will host an agribusiness forum, while the third day will focus on value addition, agro processing and agribusiness development.

Stakeholders agree that for Malawi to graduate from a primarily agrarian economy to a more diversified, industrial base, the private sector must lead investment in modern farming techniques, processing facilities and logistics.

Clear policies, reduced bureaucratic hurdles and improved access to finance are essential to encourage that participation.

By leveraging platforms like the National Agriculture Fair, businesses can forge the partnerships needed to turn agricultural output into higher earnings, create jobs and support the country’s long‑term development goals.

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