Malawi’s ambition to capture more value from its coffee industry took centre stage in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday with industry stakeholders discussing how the country can move beyond exporting raw beans and build a stronger local value chain.
In a working lunch, “From Bean to Boardroom: Unlocking Value in Malawi’s Coffee Value Chain”, side event of the 13th TEHA CEO Dialogue on Southern Africa, the leaders explored opportunities to strengthen Malawi’s coffee industry in collaboration with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS).
According to Pietro Mininni, Chief Executive Officer of TEHA Africa, the gathering is a first step towards stronger cooperation between Italy and Malawi and we welcome participants from across the region.
“How can we brand and increase awareness of the coffee reality in Malawi, which deserves greater recognition in the future,” he posed the question while opening the discussion.
Marco Rusconi, Director of AICS, called for a shift in development cooperation: away from extractive relationships and towards strengthening what producing countries make and do locally.
“We have to move away from cooperation which is extractive, and put all of us on a ground where we can collaborate to enhance what is locally done, locally manufactured and locally produced,” Rusconi said.
Local processing must be accompanied by traceability. European Union anti-deforestation rules require proof that coffee-growing land was not deforested during a specified period. Rusconi supported the environmental aim but said producing countries should have been more involved in the dialogue.
“We have to help our African friends, our Malawian friends in this case, understand the regulations in Europe and cope with the difficulties,” he said, stressing that traceability and standardisation are essential for exports.
AICS and its partners are focusing on quality, local processing and climate resilience. Priorities include better harvesting and storage, roasting and packaging, opportunities for women and young people, and finance to help farmers adopt varieties suited to changing conditions.
“There is enough room for everyone today in the coffee sector,” Rusconi said, hoping a Malawian equivalent of a major Italian brand would emerge through collaboration.
Malawi’s ambition to expand production and local processing
Gianluca Luongo of the UNIDO ACT Coffee Programme linked the discussion to Malawi’s national ambitions. He said the strategy aims to expand coffee cultivation to as much as 50,000 hectares while improving productivity, quality and local value addition a challenge he said is turning that vision into opportunities.
“ACT Coffee is working closely with the government of Malawi, development partners and the private sector, to turn the coffee strategy into concrete action, while helping mobilise funding and investment,” Luongo said.
Support includes a coffee commission, a training centre in Lilongwe, and stronger cooperative skills, processing capacity and market access.
Luongo said the future of Malawi’s coffee sector would ultimately be shaped by its producers, cooperatives and entrepreneurs, emphasising the importance of building partnerships that translate national strategies into practical business opportunities.
Championing value addition and quality
Dr Lizzie Msowoya, Chief Executive Officer of Viphya Highlands Coffee, traced her family’s coffee history to the 1950s, when her great-great-grandfather planted the first coffee tree on family land in northern Malawi.
“My relationship with coffee has always been a difficult one, to be honest,” she said. She associated coffee with her parents’ struggle to produce quality beans, find buyers and negotiate fair prices, although harvest time brought happy memories.
During COVID-19 border closures, markets dried up. Her parents and other farmers shipped a container to the United Arab Emirates, but the buyer disappeared without paying.
“That is when I came into coffee, officially,” she said. Her first mission was to find reliable buyers for her parents and their community and prevent a similar loss. As she learned the industry, she realised the challenge extended beyond selling beans.
Viphya Highlands developed a “farm to cup” model, growing coffee on its northern Malawi estate, supporting independent farmers, processing beans, and roasting and distributing its own brand. It hopes to expand regionally.
Msowoya argued that success should not be measured only by production volumes. The more important question, she said, is whether growers benefit.
“Are they prospering from the industry?” she asked. Her ambition is to help Malawi become a country that captures value from coffee, not merely one known for growing exceptional beans.
Manota Mphande, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Abale Coffee, stressed quality and market relationships. After a Malawian delegation visited Lavazza in Italy, he said it saw rigorous checks from sourcing to the final cup.
“The amount of effort they put into even one little bean that goes and makes coffee” was striking, he said. Malawi needed to strengthen its own quality systems and work together to deliver consistently high-quality coffee.
Mphande recalled that a business contact and his clients shipped about 27 containers from Malawi in 2017, but none were leaving through that channel by 2026. He invited the contact to reconnect, saying Malawi hoped to resume shipments the following year.
He said positive tasting-table feedback showed Malawian entrepreneurs were building businesses around improved coffee.
Skills development and processing capacity
Wanangwa Gondwe, Managing Director of Ntchisi East Coffee Growers’ Cooperative, described the cooperative’s roots in central Malawi. Missionaries introduced coffee trees to the area in the 1960s, and farmers initially sold their harvest to them. After the missionaries left, growers lost that market connection.
Established with support from Total Landcare and other partners, the cooperative now produces about 35 tonnes of green beans for local buyers.
He thanked the Italian government for project support, including Ethiopian expertise that has trained farmers and helped them produce their own seeds. The cooperative has established nurseries and expects to install a roaster and grinder, alongside a laboratory to strengthen roasting capacity.
“I hope farmers will be able to get more income because we will not only sell the parchment, but also the green beans and even roasted coffee,” Gondwe said.
The cooperative’s plans reflect a broader ambition among Malawian coffee producers to move further along the value chain, retain more income locally and create additional commercial opportunities for farmers.
Malawi pursues formal coffee trade
Mphande identified South Africa as a major nearby market, arguing Malawi had focused too heavily on Europe, the Middle East and North America. Informal coffee trade deprives both countries of revenue and weakens quality controls.
Work is under way with authorities in Malawi and South Africa to establish legal trade channels. A draft coffee bill, expected to proceed to Parliament the following year, is intended to strengthen export regulation and quality control.
He also emphasised traceability, saying consumers should be able to identify the village, region and farmers behind their coffee. This would help connect the value of the final product to the communities responsible for producing it.
The message was clear: more value must remain in Malawi and reach the people who grow the crop. Better farming, finance, standards, processing, branding and market access are all essential.
The Johannesburg dialogue offered more than a showcase for Malawian coffee. It brought producers and entrepreneurs into conversation with development partners, regional buyers and institutions that can help turn ambition into investment and partnerships.
Growth must be measured not only in hectares, tonnes and containers, but also in stronger businesses, better incomes and thriving, sustainable farming communities.
