Africa-Press – Malawi. Bakhresa Malawi Limited has called on farmers, the government and stakeholders to increase soya bean production following the opening of its $100 million solvent extraction plant and cooking oil refinery in Blantyre.
The factory, which will be commissioned by President Lazarus Chakwera today, requires 150,000 metric tons of the crop annually.
In an interview, the Bakhresa Malawi Limited Human Resource and Compliance Manager Richard Tchereko said the 500 metric tons per day processing facility – one of the largest in Africa – would only be commercially viable if Malawi significantly boosts soya production from current low levels.
He said the investment aligns with the government’s Malawi 2063 vision and the Agriculture, Tourism, Mining and Manufacturing (ATMM) strategy by creating a reliable market for smallholder farmers while generating much-needed foreign currency.
“The production capacity for soya in Malawi is still very low. We need to step up the efforts. That is all stakeholders, starting from the Ministry of Agriculture, the rural farmers, and NGOs in the agriculture sector, need to do. And every well-meaning Malawian has to step up efforts.
“The soya market in Malawi is not structured, and the production or the yield capacity is not fixed. It depends on the way the farmers think, because there is no market. With this factory in Malawi, farmers should be assured that there is a readily available market at Bakhresa, we will be buying at competitive prices,” Tchereko said.
The facility, which will produce 100 tons of cooking oil daily under the Azam brand, is designed to address Malawi’s chronic forex shortages and volatile cooking oil prices through import substitution and value-added exports.
The company expects the plant to create direct employment for 500 Malawians initially; with potential for scaling up based on production volumes aside will also the high-value exports including soya cake and lecithin for international markets.
In a separate interview, President of the Grain Traders and Producers Association (GTPA) Grace Mijiga said the current annual soya production has dropped from 300,000 tonnes in 2022 to between 150,000 tons to 200,000 tonnes in the 2024-25 season, which will not be enough to meet the company’s demand.
“With this, the fact is they will not get 50 percent of processing capacity unless they make an extra investment on the production. Otherwise, it is a wasted investment. The current soya processing capacity in Malawi is standing at 750,000 tonnes against a grain production of 200,000 tonnes on average,” Mijiga said. Agriculture policy expert Leonard Chimwaza said: “We need to improve on seed systems. Farmers must have easy access to high yielding soya varieties. Farmers must practice good soya production practices most especially disease prevention and control and engage large scale producers.”
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