Govt ponders maize imports

 Ministry of Agriculture Principal Secretary (PS) Dickxie Kampani has admitted that the country does not have enough maize stocks and may have to import.

Speaking when he and other ministry officials appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Government

Sector Reforms in Lilongwe, the PS said Capital Hill is considering boosting stocks by importing from neighbouring countries. Assurance and Public

He said: “The quantity that is required for the strategic grain reserve is 220 000 metric tonnes [MT]. Currently, there is about 68 000MT, but the National Food Reserve Agency [NFRA] is also buying to increase the stocks.”

Kampani told the committee that apart from the maize that NFRA is buying on the open market, Zambia and Mozambique have also offered to sell maize to Malawi.

He said government is considering the offers, but should Capital Hill approval maize imports, the move will exert more pressure on the foreign currency market that is already struggling to finance critical supplies such as fertiliser and fuel amid dwindling reserves.

In his response, committee chairperson Noel Lipipa expressed concern that some areas are not getting maize despite that 5.4 million people are already food insecure.

He said there is need to ensure that Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) depots have maize that people can easily access.

“Food is a security issue. So, we need to make sure that people are able to access maize,” said Lipipa.

The committee raised concerns that the country does not have enough maize, and wondered how the government will sustain the commodity’s price stabilisation as well as meet the humanitarian and emergency response.

Admarc, which was tasked to sell maize to the public amid cries of hunger and skyrocketing maize prices, has since admitted funding challenges in the maize distribution exercise, a development that has seen some areas, especially in the hardest hit Southern Region, not getting enough maize.

Admarc chief executive officer Dan Makata told the committee that the parastatal needs over K1.8 billion to distribute 12 640MT of maize in the first phase of the maize price stabilisation, but the government has only released K600 million.

He said Admarc needs to transport maize from the Central Region to the South, and delays in paying transporters have led to resistance from some transporters to continue providing the service.

Said Makata: “Most of the maize that was handed Central Region. Currently we need to move this maize from the Central Region to the Southern Region because NFRA doesn’t have much maize in the Southern Region.

“We basically have to move maize from the Central to Southern Region. That caused delays in people accessing the maize.”

He added that transporters are also refusing to go to hard-to-reach areas, which is affecting the exercise.

However, the CEO said they have decided to use smaller vehicles other than 30-tonner trucks for the hard-to-reach areas.

Admarc started the distribution of maize to its markets on August 24 2023. Out of the 12 640MT that was allocated for maize price stabilisation, they distributed 6 811 MT.

The Southern Region was allocated 10 170 MT, but 4 871 MT was distributed representing 48 percent. The Central Region was allocated 1 320 MT and 1 024 MT was distributed while the Northern Region was allocated 1150 MT and 915 MT was distributed.

Makata further said out of the 6 811 MT that has been distributed in all the regions, 4 610MT has been bought by the public.