By Chisomo Phiri

Greenbelt Greenhouse Limited (GGL), a company under the Greenbelt Authority says it has managed to generate 65 thousand US Dollars from 70 tons of bell pepper exports to South Africa since November, 2023,contributing to the generation of forex in the country

In an interview with this publication,GGL Sales and Marketing Manager Tamandani Chanza said:“Recently we exported 3 tons of bell peppers to South Africa where we have secured markets. The trip was the 26th in four months. And that should show you that we are quite serious with the venture.”

Asked on how GGL manages to stay competitive on South African Market considering that South Africa is a major food and vegetable producer and exporter globally, Chanza was quick to point out that as a company they are very serious on quality control, starting from the greenhouses to processing and packaging.

“Everything is precise and regulated in the pumphouse, starting from the amount of water, fertilizer, and pesticide that each plant gets. And even the amount of light that the plants get is regulated to make sure the plant gets only what it needs to have quality produce, that way no market would reject our product,” she explained.

Commenting on the development, Agriculture Production Manager for the Greenbelt Authority (GBA) Mesiah Moleni disclosed that at first they had challenges with securing markets as they were only supplying to local markets.

“With the South Africa deal we are hopeful to penetrate more external markets. We are in talks with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Botswana. I must say as an authority we are satisfied with what GGL is doing,” said Moleni.

Apart from forex, GGL has also contributed to job creation having employed about 130 Malawians.

This development comes barely days after President Lazarus Chakwera delivered his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) where he emphasized that agriculture commercialization was one of the ways of getting Malawi out of the economic challenges experienced in 2023.

Greenbelt Authority is a government corporation established under the Greenbelt Authority Act No. 23 of 2017 from the Greenbelt Initiative.

The Aim of the organization is to champion large scale commercial irrigation through efficient use of land and water resources in order to accelerate social-economic transformation in the country.

It offers a lucrative package of projects requiring foreign investment.

The projects are spread across the country where there are sustainable water resources inline with the core objective of the Greenbelt Initiative, which is to utilize every piece of land available for large-scale commercial irrigation farming.