Import maize early, institute urges Malawi

The International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri) has advised the Malawi Government to start importing maize now as any delays to make such arrangements could compromise the hunger response.

Ifpri said in an April 4 2024 policy brief titled ‘Ensuring food security in a State of Disaster’ published by Jan Duchoslav and Joachim De Weerdt that even with available funding, imports will be harder to secure due to the El-Nino weather which has hit southern African countries where Malawi sources its imports.

The brief further advises that Malawi should start importing maize in June as that will be the best time since prices are usually lower immediately after the harvesting season.

Reads the brief in part: “El-Niño is negatively affecting agricultural production throughout much of southern Africa, including Zambia and Mozambique. It is unlikely that Tanzania and Kenya, which can expect a bumper harvest, will be able to make up for the entire shortfall of production in southern Africa.

“The sustained decline that global maize prices experienced over the past 18 months is unlikely to make future imports cheaper. Global trade is dominated by yellow maize, whereas Malawi consumes white maize, which is mostly traded regionally.”

Apart from irrigated winter crop production and food imports, Ifpri also tipped Malawi to start making arrangements for food or cash distribution during the lean season to cushion the most food-insecure population once the food-deficit becomes apparent and imports have been made available.

It warned that even if people had cash in hand, prices would still be high if there is insufficient food on the market.

The institute noted that in Malawi food imports are centralised with the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) storage facilities as the focal point which could be quicker for the Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) to distribute as in-kind support than being sold by Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc).

The research body observes that El-Niño has caused, on average, a 22.5 percent decline in maize production, a fact President Lazarus Chakwera also highlighted during his declaration of a State of Disaster on March 23 2024.

In an announcement on the 2023/24 recommended minimum farm gate prices for selected crops, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said the ministry was steadfast in its commitment to motivating commercial farmers who produce on a large scale and are comparatively efficient to produce more to counter hunger.

He said: “From next year, we will start including other commodities like pearl millet, milk, dairy products and livestock as mega farms continue to grow.

“We will release a list of approved traders who have agreed to buy the commodity at these prices shortly. Every farmer is encouraged to use these traders if they are to benefit from their hard work.”

Recently, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mwapata Institute and Catholic Relief Service urged government to invest in drought-resilient crops and other initiatives to wean the country from its over-dependency on maize.

This was one of the recommendations from a survey titled ‘From harvest decline to food crisis: The looming threat of El-Nino-induced drought on food security in Malawi’ which the two institutions carried out recently.

The findings paint a gloomy picture that 92.8 percent of farming families in drought-hit districts should not only expect significant reduction in maize production but in other crops as well.