Farmers have joined motorists in an uncertain wait for seed which appears to be in short supply for both the Affordable Inputs Programme (AIP) and the commercial market.
Some individual farmers and their mother body, Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM), have confirmed struggling to access the seed, especially for maize, despite the rains having started.
Esther Kambadzo, a youthful farmer at Ngwangwa in Lilongwe, says she finished tilling her 3.25 acres and has been in town looking for seed.
“I have been looking for Seed Co’s Njobvu maize variety but I can’t find it.
“My concern is that the rains have started and we are supposed to be planting maize,” she said.
FUM executive director Jacob Nyirongo concurred with Kambadzo that maize seed is scarce on the market and the trend spells disaster to the 2024/25 growing season as seed is the main component in agriculture.
He said: “In this situation, farmers have to consider forming groups to buy directly in bulk from companies, otherwise relying on buying from agro-dealers as individuals won’t help them.”
Currently, Malawi is facing one of the worst food scarcity situations with about 5.7 million people in critical need of food relief to survive to the next harvesting season.
Seed Trade Association of Malawi (Stam) said seed companies have 12 000 metric tonnes of maize seed on the market across the country and have also earmarked some for the export market.
Stam business development manager Supply Chisi, however, said some popular brands may be in limited supply on the market because most farmers already procured with the prepaid system companies are using.
“Seed should be prioritised in farming and should not necessarily be sourced when rains have started.
“We encourage farmers to buy seed in advance, not when about to plant. Increased demand makes farmers prone to fake seed,” he said.
