Admarc has said it will strengthen its relationship with market committees to stop people who buy maize in its depots for resell.
Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) manager for Shire Valley, Prescow Mwamale, said this in an interview recently with Malawi News Agency (Mana).
Mwamale was responding to a question on why people, especially those of the Lower Shire, cannot access maize in Admarc depots yet vendors in the area have huge stocks of the staple grain.
Paul Lapukeni from Mbangu Village, Traditional Authority Malemia in Nsanje, said the absence of maize in Admarc deports have caused vendors in the district to take advantage of the situation to hike prices of the grain.
He said a 50-kilogramme bag of maize is selling between K6 000 (about $17) and K 6 500 (about $19) in the district yet Admarc sells the same bag at K5 000 (about $14).
“When maize is available in Admarc depots, one spends the day in a queue only to be told in the evening that it is all sold out; and it takes long for Admarc to replenish its depots with maize,” said Lapukeni.
But Mwamale said Admarc is concerned about the situation and is doing everything possible to ensure that people access maize at affordable prices.
He said often the maize Admarc sells ends up in the hands of vendors, hence the decision to work with market committees to end this practice.
He said the job of the committees, which mainly comprise of members from communities surrounding Admarc depots, would be to identify people who buy maize not for home use but for resell.
He said unless Admarc works with communities, maize supplied in its depots will always be inadequate.
“As Admarc employees, we may not be able to indentify vendors, but communities can. These committees will also sensitise people to the danger of allowing vendors to buy and hoarding maize in their warehouses.
“If people understand this, they will always be on the lookout for people who buy maize either to resell or just to hoard it,” he said.
