High maize prices fuel theft
Improved maize prices offered by Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) have fuelled cases of farm produce theft in some parts of the Northern Region.
On Monday, Rumphi district agricultural development officer Yangson Nyirenda warned growers to quickly harvest their maize as Admarc has no mechanism to ascertain the origin of the produce reaching them.
Most people in the Northern Region, especially Rumphi, Mzimba and Chitipa, have a tendency of keeping maize in the fields until the next growing season to ensure it is totally dry by harvest time.
The habit, which also exposes the grain to post-harvest pests and rodents, has become risky as Admarc has hiked the buying price to K150 a kilogramme from about K100 for the same quantity last year.
The scramble for the lucrative deals has pushed some unscrupulous people to start invading maize fields at night to steal.
“If your maize is still in the field, please start harvesting now and store it safely. Don’t sell all of it. Admarc has no systems to check whether it is stolen or not,” Nyirenda warned.
Concerned citizen, Kamkwamba Kalea of Hewe, has called on government to intensifies mass awareness on the need to sell surplus only as many do not seem not to know how many bags they have to store per person.
Similar fears are gaining sway in Chitipa as vendors from within as well as Zambia and Tanzania are striving to meet and beat Admarc prices in a mounting scramble for the country’s harvest as almost eight million Malawians face hunger.
Many fear the maize may not be available at their nearest depot when the looming hunger strikes as was the case recently when the shortage of the grain in Admarc outlets left the poorest of the poor buying a kilogramme at up to K300 from unregulated vendors. n
