State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has hinted at opening its markets earlier than the traditional October to serve consumers seeking to buy maize.
Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, Admarc chief executive officer (CEO) Foster Mulumbe said probably the markets, over a 1 000, including Admarc’s 350 permanent markets and other temporary selling points, should be open by end of August or early September as hunger starts biting nationwide.
He said: “But if you move around the council markets, maize is available. The reason some [Admarc] markets do not have maize at the moment is because the corporation is currently buying. We started buying in June. So, we do not sell at the time of buying because the grain cannot be bought today and be sold tomorrow as that will exhaust at the time of the purchasing process.”
On whether Admarc will start rationing the maize once markets open, Mulumbe said the main objective of rationing is to counter vendors who buy at lower prices from Admarc and sell to consumers.
Despite government procuring maize from neighbouring Zambia, people cannot access the staple grain as Admarc markets have no maize in stock.
The unavailability of maize in many Admarc depots in the country means that over 2.8 million Malawians facing food shortages may have no alternative but to hunt for maize at private traders who are selling the grain at exorbitant prices.
Two weeks ago, maize from Zambia started trickling into the country with over 160 trucks carrying the grain already offloaded during the last week of July.
According to officials, the transportation exercise, which started on July 7, is expected to see 1 000 30-tonne trucks carrying 600 bags each, coming into the country by September this year.
A snap survey by The Nation shows that in many Admarc selling points, the maize has not yet been distributed as most of them have been out of business for some time now.
However, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Allan Chiyembekeza has said government will make sure all strategic places within the country should have maize once distribution starts.
Speaking in an interview in Lilongwe on Tuesday after touring various Admarc depots, Chiyembekeza said the procured maize from Zambia will be redistributed to various parts of the country once it hits Lilongwe Admarc Depot.
The minister said government is buying the maize at $210 per tonne (approximately 1 000 kilogrammes [kg]) which translates to K115 per kg.
However, he said the pricing per kg for reselling here in the country will be communicated shortly. He assured Malawians that the price will be affordable.
Malawi is facing a food shortfall following floods and drought that affected the country earlier this year.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development crop and food estimates for 2014/2015 season released last week show a 30.2 percent decrease in maize production from 3 978 123MT in 2013/2014 agricultural season to 2 776 277MT this year, which is 223 723MT maize less.
According to the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Mvac) report released in July, the affected population that will require humanitarian assistance is estimated at 2 833 212 people for a period of three to six months from October 2015 to March 2016.
The report said the estimated requirement for intervention for the three to six months period is 113 733MT of maize equivalent to over K22.7 billion. n
(Additional Reporting by Mercy Malikwa)
