Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) has frowned at the 2025/26 minimum farm gate maize prices which show a decline from K1 050 per kilogramme (kg) last year to K900, describing it as a raw deal.
FUM president Manes Nkhata, in an interview yesterday after Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development released the recommended prices, said while her association is involved in setting minimum prices and was satisfied with prices for the other crops, the maize prices are on the lower side.
She said FUM had proposed K1 200 per kg which would translate to K60 000 per 50kg bag.
“The set maize farm gate price has the potential to discourage farmers from maize farming which in the end would reduce the country’s maize production,” said Nkhata.
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development yesterday released the 2025/26 farm gate prices for various crops, including maize whose price translates to K45 000 per 50kg bag.
The ministry’s Principal Secretary Erica Maganga said the prices were with immediate effect.
Mpemba, Blantyre. | Francis Chamasowa
“All agro-dealers, agro-processors, and others who deal in these commodities are requested not to buy the stated crop commodities at prices lower than those stipulated,” the statement reads in part.
Prior to the announcement of the farm gate prices, farmers in some parts of the country were selling maize at as low as K20 000 per 50kg against a backdrop of rising cost of production inputs, including fertiliser now fetching about K180 000 per 50kg from around K130 000 early last year.
Farm gate prices are traditionally released before harvest to guide transactions and protect farmers, but this year the delay created uncertainty across markets.
In the 2024/25 agriculture season, the prices were announced on April 7 amid pressure from agricultural stakeholders who also argued that they had come after some farmers have already been given raw deals by unscrupulous vendors.
Speaking in Parliament in Lilongwe last Tuesday, Leader of Opposition in Parliament Simplex Chithyola Banda warned that farmers risk exploitation due to government’s delays to announce farmgate prices at the height of the harvest season.
In response, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Roza Mbilizi said the prices were set for release before the end of last week.
Commenting on the new prices, agriculture expert Tamani Nkhono- Mvula and Mwapata Institute research fellow Christone Nyondo warned in separate interviews yesterday that the new maize price discourages commercial maize production because it does not reflect the cost of production.
Nkhono-Mvula said the costs of fertiliser, transportation, labour, seeds and other inputs have increased over the past year; therefore, the minimum price should reflect that.
He observed that the government’s policy appears to prioritise consumers over farmers.
Nyondo, on the other hand, noted that inputs and output prices are moving in opposite directions, with inputs prices remaining “stubbornly high”.
He said the cost of producing maize per hectare is roughly K1.25 million for a conservative producer targeting a gross margin of between K350 000 and K450 000 per hectare.
Blantyre-based farmer James Chimowa also stressed the need for prices to reflect production costs, especially in light of rising input costs such as fertiliser and seeds.
In May this year, Fertiliser Association of Malawi executive administrator Hannah Makhambera cautioned that prices could rise further due to the US-Israel war on Iran which has affected shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and significantly pushed up global fertiliser prices
When asked how the government plans to protect farmers amid high production costs, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development spokesperson Salome Gangire requested more time to respond. However, she had not responded by press time at 9 pm yesterday.
Besides maize, the new farm gate prices set rice at K1 500 per kg, pure beans at K3 400 per kg, soya beans at K1 700 per kg, shelled groundnuts at K3 500 per kg, sorghum at K1 100 per kg, pigeon peas at K1 500 per kg and milk at K1 000 per litre.
In the 2025/26 growing season, Malawi faced a food shortage, forcing the government to seek support and import 200 000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize from Zambia.
In June last year, the World Food Programme projected Malawi’s maize deficit at 1.2 million MT out of a total requirement of 3.7 million MT.
Maize, as part of the food component, accounts for about 53.7 percent in the consumer price index.
Due to easing maize prices, Malawi’s headline inflation has been on a downward spiral from 26 percent last December to 24.1 percent in March 2026, according to NSO.
