Government seeking more maize in TZ, Zambia

Government will once again turn to neighbours Tanzania and Zambia in its quest to source maize, amid current maize shortage on the market.

According to Chief Secretary to Government George Mkondiwa, Malawi has entered into discussions with its counterparts in Tanzania and Zambia to purchase more maize from the two countries.

The discussions come at a time when private traders are allegedly hoarding the staple grain while some vendors have come under fire for buying maize in Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) depots at low prices and reselling at prices ranging from K17 500 ($24) to K24 000 ($33) per 50 kilogramme (kg) bag.

Last year, Tanzania agreed to sell Malawi about 70 000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize when Lilongwe’s total request was 100 000MT.

In an interview on Tuesday, Mkondiwa said government also wants to intensify efforts to buy the commodity from local traders. He could not say how much maize will be bought from Tanzania and Zambia.

“As one way of reducing maize shortages we have started negotiations with our counterparts in Zambia and Tanzania to see whether we can buy maize from the two countries. On top of that we are also buying some maize locally and we hope that this will end the current maize shortages,” said Mkondiwa.

In the long-term, he said government will increase funding to the Green Belt Initiative “so that maize shortages that have been experienced this year should never reoccur”.

Government yesterday was also relieved to get additional funding for the purchase of maize from the Arab Republic of Egypt through the Egyptian Agency of Partnership and Development.

The Egyptians donated 250 000 Egyptian pounds (about K20 million) to Capitall Hill. Treasury on Monday also announced that it expects additional K4.4 billion to be released soon from the World Bank.