Admarc, Dodma get maize stocks

In a desperate bid to flood the market, the Strategic Grain Reserves (SGR) Committee on Friday allocated 10 000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize to Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation  (Admarc).

During its virtual meeting, the committee also gave the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) 20 000MT, developments that have left the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) with just 14 000 MT in stock.

In an interview yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said the ministry, through Admarc, will sell more maize in the Central and Northern regions after doing the same in the Eastern and Southern regions in the earlier phase.

He said: “This follows a meeting the SGR Committee had last week. This will assist families access maize at affordable prices across the country.

“We are happy that Admarc has finalised the recruitment process [of staff] and we are confident that the new employees will serve Malawians with love and commitment. The maize being sold will be complemented with the maize Dodma is giving families.”

The 10 000MT is equivalent to 200 000 bags of 50 kilogramme each.

Kawale said the K150 000 per household for vulnerable communities under Social Cash Transfer Programme will help the families buy maize.

The money is part of initiatives President Lazarus Chakwera announced in November as cushioning measures to ease the impact of the 44 percent kwacha devaluation. Beneficiaries are expected to receive the package for three months.

In a separate interview yesterday, Admarc general manager Daniel Makata also confirmed the development, saying they will start drawing the maize after finalising paperwork.

He said: “We should start drawing the maize after doing the necessary paper work between ourselves and NFRA. I am hoping that within a week after the holidays.

“What we have been told is that we draw 10 000MT now and immediately that is finished, we can go and ask for more.”

Earlier, Grain Traders Association of Malawi president Grace Mijiga Mhango said the private traders’ market does not have enough maize.

“For now, the best is for government to import maize as a buffer. The challenge that we have now is that we cannot import as private sector because of the ban effected in Tanzania. Those of us in the formal sector may not bring, but those in the informal sector will likely be smuggling,” she said.

While not giving minute details of the private sector stocks, Mijiga-Mhango said there was “too little”.

She said: “We don’t have enough stocks, that is why we were planning to import. But the ban to import from Tanzania has affected us a lot. If there is any maize, then it is very little. We haven’t seen anyone saying they have enough.”

The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee established that 4.4 million people will not be able to meet their annual food requirements for the 2023/2024 consumption period.

Out of the 2023/24 food-insecure people, 470 000 are from the country’s four cities, namely Mzuzu, Lilongwe, Blantyre and Zomba, and 3.9 million are in rural areas across the country.