The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism is implementing activities under Component 2 of the project which focuses on supporting investment enabling services. The objective of the activities is to support business enabling services by addressing some of the systemic gaps and challenges that constrain investment and trade in the agribusiness sector. By addressing the challenges and constraints the Ministry is supporting the formation of Producer Organizations (POs) and operations of Productive Alliances (PAs)
Some of the activities the Ministry is implementing include access to agricultural finance, facilitating policy dialogue on agribusiness; removing some of the barriers to trade for agriculture business and facilitating regulatory, administrative, and institutional reforms that have an impact on agribusinesses
On access to agricultural financing the Ministry is promoting warehouse receipt financing system by facilitating capacity building of stakeholders, and exploring introduction of insurance or indemnity fund to mitigate risk related to warehouse receipt financing. Under this activity the project will also provide grant contribution for building and rehabilitation of rural warehouses through Public Private Partnership arrangements with farmer organizations
In order to promote policy dialogue on agribusinesses, the Ministry facilitates Public Private Dialogue forum in conjunction with Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. To make PPD effective the Ministry is supporting creation of an agribusiness specific taskforce that will address issues of commercialization, prioritize key challenges and identify international good practice that can be adopted to the Malawi context
The Ministry is also facilitating trade by supporting the Trade and Industry Sector Wide Approach (TIP-SWAP) Technical Working Groups (TWGs), promoting use of structured markets such as commodity exchanges and addressing Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) that impede agricultural trade
Some of the reforms that the Ministry is facilitating to support agribusinesses include implementation of the Malawi Business Registration System, review of economic laws and policies such as the Investment and Export Promotion Act, and review of customs procedures and documents. Implementation of these reforms is coordinated through various TWGs
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