Private sector urges speed in Morocco fertiliser trials

Private sector representatives have urged the Malawi Government to speed up fertiliser trials for OCP Africa, a Moroccan company which expressed interest to start supplying its product and set up a factory in the country. This follows a visit by the Malawian delegation to the North African country during the Morocco-Malawi Economic Promotion Week that run from December 9 to 13 December 2024. In an interview on Friday, National Association for Small and Medium Enterprises executive director William Mwale, who was part of the private sector delegation that accompanied officials from ministries of Foreign Affairs and Agriculture, said the business discussions were vital.

But he said the key issue that was raised was the delay to conduct farm trials for OCP chemical fertilisers. Said Mwale: “OCP Africa was identified and is interested to help. The company funded the fertiliser farm trials to confirm if its chemical fertilisers are suitable to Malawian soils.



” He said the company felt the trials are taking long as the research stations are yet to release the results to enable the company go ahead with the project. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture were not immediately available for a comment, but Malawi Embassy in Morocco said the Malawi delegation held several business meetings with key institutions in Morocco and expressed hope that the OCP fertiliser venture will succeed. In a statement, the embassy said Malawi is seeking a government-to-government agreement with Morocco to ensure stable supply of fertilisers on the Malawian market.

The statement further says in Zambia, OCP Africa is producing Urea by extracting nitrogen from the soil..