The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development
(MoAIWD), in conjunction with the Sustainable Agricultural Production
Programme (SAPP II), Friday signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) to ensure that farmer organizations and
cooperatives under SAPP II produce quality and certified products for the market.

The signing of the MoU took place at the Ministry’s Headquarters at Capital Hill in
Lilongwe in presence of MBS Director General, Symon Mandala; MoAIWD
Principal Secretary (Admin.) Ben Nkasala; and SAPP II National Project
Coordinator, Rex Baluwa.

Nkasala hailed the partnership, saying it will contribute towards improving
product quality, enhancing market access, increasing consumer confidence and,
ultimately, improving incomes and livelihoods of farmers under the SAPP II
project.

He said through the SAPP II project the ministry is mobilizing farmers into
cooperatives and farmer organizations for them to embark on massive agro-
processing and value addition for local and international market.

“Meaningful market participation cannot be achieved without robust compliance
with established standards and certification systems: This is the critical gap that
our partnership with the Malawi Bureau of Standards will address,” explained
Nkasala.

He added: “By bridging production, quality assurance, and market requirements,
we are embedding sustainability and compliance at the heart of SAPP II’s results
framework.”

On the other hand, MBS Director General, Symon Mandala, commended the
MoAIWD and SAPP II for considering MBS as a strategic partner, saying the
collaboration will empower farmer organizations to access the market.

Mandala said following the Agreement, the Bureau will provide training and
technical guidance on national and international standards; quality assurance
training; product certification service; and increased awareness of standards
compliance as a market entry tool.

“It’s very important that they’ve decided to involve us right at the early stage
because, quite often, products are produced elsewhere only for the companies to
involve us at the final stage for the Bureau’s quality mark and when we tell them
the required procedure, they label the Bureau a stumbling block,” said Mandala.

He further appealed to MoAIWD and SAPP II to ensure that there’s continued
coordination; effective communication; and timely resource allocation and
release for the collaboration to be successful.

SAPP II is being implemented with support from the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD) and it is promoting agricultural
commercialization, productivity and resilience among smallholder farmers in
targeted districts of Balaka, Lilongwe, Dowa and Mzimba.

The core priority of SAPP II is to enable farmer organisations to participate
effectively in structured, competitive, and profitable markets.

According to the Project’s National Coordinator, Rex Baluwa, over 230 farmer
organisations have been profiled under the SAPP II and they will soon receive
matching grants for value addition and agro-processing initiatives.

“These farm organizations need our support and I’m happy that as we’ll be
starting to do capacity building with them, we will start together with MBS so that
the farmers know exactly what to do to meet the required standards,” said
Baluwa.