Consumers shun Admarc

Consumers in Malawi have shunned State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) opting to buy the staple grain, maize, from vendors who are selling the commodity at a lower price.

The development has raised questions on whether the parastatal has abandoned its social functions and opted to go fully commercial.

Admarc, hitherto a tool for protecting the poor from the pangs of hunger in terms of price stabilisation, is selling maize at K250 per kilogramme (kg), translating to K12 500 per 50kg bag, compared to K240 and K230 per kg offered by vendors.

Prior to the price hike, Admarc sold maize at K110 per kilogramme.

Consumers opt to buy from vendors at lower cost

Spot-checks by The Nation yesterday in selected markets in Blantyre City established that consumers were not interested to buy maize from Admarc markets.

At Chemusa Admarc market, it was learnt that the parastatal delivered 300 bags of maize last month, but over 200 are still in stock. In contrast to last year, the quantity would be sold out within hours.

The Nation spent over 30 minutes at the market and confirmed that no consumer came to buy maize.

In Zingwangwa Township, the situation was no better either as, for the 20 minutes spent, no person was seen buying the maize, leaving Admarc officials literally loafing.

Reacting to the developments, Joseph Dzanja, associate professor of agribusiness management at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources  (Luanar) Bunda College, said the high price offered by Admarc is hurting the poor and likely to worsen poverty considering that maize is a very important commodity in the country.

He said people are now depending on commercial traders such as vendors to buy maize and feed themselves contrary to the objective of establishing Admarc.

However, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Principal Secretary Erica Maganga justified Admarc’s decision to sell maize at a higher price, saying the money used to buy the maize was borrowed from commercial banks and has to be repaid.

She said: “Government is assisting over 6.5 million people with food aid. At least we should be appreciative of that. Through this humanitarian response most vulnerable people are being reached out. We should also be appreciative that Admarc is making sure maize is available throughout the country.”

Admarc has spent K22.4 billion on local maize purchase of about 100 000 metric tonnes (MT).

Civil Society Agriculture Network (CisaNet) and Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) described the prices as prohibitive and likely to set a very high benchmark for all maize prices in the food market.

They argued that Admarc is under obligation to make sure ordinary citizens of the country have access to maize in the prevailing hunger situation.

CisaNet executive director Tamani Nkhono-Mvula said even though the International Monetary Fund (IMF) advised government to be careful on subsidising maize, the final decision still rests with government as a duty-bearer.

CfSC director Jos Kuppens said what mattered was affordability and not necessarily availability.

He urged government to use available means of funds such as climate change mitigation funds to subsidise maize.

Admarc chief executive officer Foster Mulumbe said the corporation continues to experience low turnout of customers due to the food distribution exercise run by government and its partners which has made more households food sufficient.

He said: “This year a number of beneficiaries in the food distribution exercise have doubled and this has a bearing on the turnout of customers to buy maize in our depots. However, in the Southern and Northern regions sales are improving unlike in the Central Region.”

Mulumbe also said this year customers are buying for consumption unlike in the past where traders bought the maize for resale.

Admarc opened its markets for the 2016/17 marketing season on October 24 following a directive by President Peter Mutharika. n