LILONGWE,Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has revealed that the price of fertilizer subsidy will be hiked because of the price of fertilizer globally has gone up.
The Malawi leader was speaking today in a national address.
Chakwera said prices of fertilizer have gone up globally and this could lead to a rise in fertilizer prices in Malawi.
He, however, argued that there is no justification for fertilizer manufactures to charge more than K30,000 per 50KG bag.
“They are doing this to punish farmers but what you should know is that my government will not tolerate this. We will not allow anyone to disrupt the agriculture in the country.
“Whether anyone wants or not, farmers will buy fertilizer at cheap prices,” said Chakwera.
The Chakwera administration last year implemented the Affordable Input Programme (AIP) where about 3.8 million farmers bought two 50 kg bags of fertilizer at a price of K4,495.00 per bag.
In July this year, the Ministry of Agriculture said about one million farmers will be removed from the program this year with 2.7 million farmers benefiting.
The ministry cited financial constraints and rising of prices of fertilizer as the factors affecting the programme which this year has been allocated K142 billion.
However, Chakwera today said he will not allow anyone to remove any farmer from the AIP.
“Farmers are people who sustain our country and I vowed to protect farmers. Anyone who is persecuting farmers should know that they are fighting against Chakwera. I will not allow anyone to disrupt AIP,” said Chakwera. (M24).