Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has expressed concerns over delayed disbursement of funds, saying this has affected implementation of reform activities at the state produce trader.
Speaking yesterday, Admarc chief executive officer Daniel Makata also revealed that Admarc has been failing to pay suppliers over the past month after its accounts were garnished because of K25 billion compensation the parastatal is supposed to pay its former employees.
In his presentation when Vice-President Michae Usi visited Admarc’s rice milling plant at Liwonde in Machinga, Makata said the state producer needs full recapitalisation by the government.
Said Makata: “In the 2024/25 financial year we planned to use K43.5 billion which was allocated by the government but what is remaining is the disbursement of a huge chunk of those funds to enable us to implement the reforms agenda.”
A report which Makata presented to the Vice-President indicate that Admarc in the current financial year failed to achieve its target of purchasing 4 000 metric tonnes (MT) of rice with 724MT procured while 400MT out of targetted 1 500MT of beans were purchased.
For maize, Admarc targeted 40 000MT but managed to purchase 38 477 MT.
Other reforms impacted by delayed funding include resuscitation of groundnut grading plant which has not been operational for more than five years and commissioning of two Dhal plants.
However, the state producer managed to improve operations at its rice milling plant in Liwonde where it now processes 22 tonnes of rice per day from 12 tonnes per day in the past.
The State producer has also finalised the process of procuring a maize milling plant which it expects to install at Malangalanga in Lilongwe this year.
“It is going to be one of the biggest milling in the country with 200MT output per day which is enough to supply Lilongwe, Blantyre and off pp with maize flour,” said Makata.
In his remarks, the Vice-President commended Admarc for its rice milling operations and urged the parastatal to expedite the installation of the maize flour milling plant.
Usi, however, directed Admarc management to deal with employees involved in misconduct.
In 2023, Admarc fired its entire 4 000-plus workforce during a restructuring exercise and later conducted a mass hiring of new employees.
The parastatal is currently faced with a K25 billion compensation award due to the retrenched staff who have since moved the courts to seize 94 of the corporation’s vehicles and freeze its bank accounts to enforce payment.
