Livestock farmers catchhigh maize price cold

Livestock farmers in the country are finding it hard to thrive as maize prices, the main component of livestock feed, keep rising amid dwindling consumer incomes.

Business Review has established that although the rising maize prices have increased cost of production, chicken farmers are failing to adjust prices to reflect the rising costs as consumers are unwilling to buy at high prices.

However, for milk producers, some farmers are side-selling to compensate for the cost of production.

In an interview yesterday, Milk Producers Association of Malawi executive director Herbert Chagona said due to the rising maize prices, a 50 kilogramme (kg) bag of maize at a market in Bvumbwe and Goliati in Thyolo is costing more than K16 000, up from K8 000 during the same period last year.

He said there is also a scramble for maize bran as people are exporting maize bran to neighbouring countries. 

Said Chagona: “Amid rising cost of production, processors are offering around K300 per litre of milk while the informal market is offering K500 per litre.

“As such, we have seen a drop of milk supplied in supermarkets and noted there are incidences of milk rationing where customers are allowed to buy a specific number of packets.”

Agriculturalist and owner of B&C Farm in Dowa, Smart Masamba, said with maize constituting over 75 percent of chicken feed ingridients, any adjustment in the price of maize attracts a price hike in feed prices, which impacts the poultry industry.

He said: “The adjustment of feed prices may not be proportioned to the price of outputs from poultry.

“To infant poultry farmers, who are not making their own feeds, it is even worse, because if you do gross margin analysis for broilers, for you to make significant profits you need to sell your chicken not less than K6 500 within six weeks, and if you go beyond that then you attract losses.”

Lilongwe Poultry Malawi director Alex Amoni observed that despite chicken feed prices rising in recent months, broiler farmers are failing to make meaningful price adjustments as consumers are already facing financial challenges.

He said: “At the same time, the feed manufacturing companies also sell broiler chickens, but at lower prices, making us price takers.

“This business is no longer a reliable business, many small farmers are being forced to exit the business.”