Farmers selling partially dry maize at K60/kg

Desperate farmers in some districts are selling their partially dry maize to vendors, a situation that puts Admarc at risk of finding little or no maize if it delays to open its markets.

Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Allan Chiyembekeza has since warned that Malawi risks facing the worst food crisis in 2017 if the practice is not checked.

Spot checks by The Nation in Dowa on Saturday established that private traders are offering between K80 and K90 for a kilogramme (kg) of partially dry maize.

At Nkhamenya Trading Centre in Kasungu, a 20-litre bucket of maize is reportedly going at K1 200 while some farmers at Kapopo Trading Centre in Mzimba are selling the same quantity at K950.

Village head Matola under Traditional Authority (T/A) Kaluluma in Kasungu corroborated The Nation findings yesterday, saying his subjects are currently getting between K3 500 (about $5) and K4 500 (about $6.5) for a 50kg bag of the staple grain.

Said the chief: “The vendors’ argument is that they will shoulder the costs for storage and pesticides; hence, they cannot pay higher than that. But I feel that’s blackmail because they do not consider the costs farmers incur to produce that maize.”

Inkosana Kapopo Mhlanga of Mzimba feared Malawi will suffer the worst food crisis next year if State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) does not open its markets early.

Commenting on the development, Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) director of programme development and learning Jacob Nyirongo yesterday described the practice by farmers to sell partially dry/mature crops as “distress sales” as farmers are largely compelled to sell their produce to solve their immediate social and economic problems.

But he observed that there is nothing peculiar about farmers selling their crops before the actual harvesting period comes.

He said: “Distress sales are a result of a lack of or limited alternative sources of income among farmers. Majority of the smallholder farmers do not have alternative sources of income. Hence, when they are hit by some social or economic problem, they quickly turn to their crops for bailout.”

Rural Livelihoods and Economic Enhancement Programme (Rleep) national programme director Dixon Ngwende said economically active poor rural households and smallholder farmers can also improve their income base

by forming groups and associations through which they can find markets for their produce and increase their bargaining power.

He said his programme is currently working with some farmers in selected districts in the country to motivate them to form groups/associations, which they can use to bargain for prices that correspond to the cost of in-puts.

Admarc chief executive officer Foster Mulumbe could not be reached yesterday to indicate when his organisation plans to start buying maize.

However, he is on record as having said that buying partially-dry maize is risky as the moisture content of the grain is still high.

Chiyembekeza said he was aware of the invasion of vendors onto the market before government had released minimum prices for maize this year.

The minister said while government cannot stop farmers and vendors from engaging in such deals since Malawi is a liberalised market, the practice is unfortunate, especially coming a few weeks after Malawians were complaining of food shortages in their households.

Meanwhile, Chiyembekeza said government has finalised working on minimum prices for the agricultural commodities this year. He could, however, not disclose the prices, saying stakeholders were analysing them. n