Maize traders and farmers have stuck to their guns by refusing to sell their stock to State-owned National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) at K840 per kilogramme (kg) when parallel market prices are hovering at K1100 per kg.
The reaction does not come as a surprise because the traders and farmers already expressed concern that the new price was lower than the cost of production that they pegged at K938.24 per kg last year and farm gate price pegged at K1050 per kg.
In a written response yesterday, Grain Traders Association of Malawi president Grace Mijiga-Mhango said the demand for maize on the market still exists and that market prices are higher than NFRA prices.
She said: “I did mention that our maize at K1100 per kg was still the cheapest in the region using informal markets, so other traders have continued to sell informally and earn some dollars which they trade at a very high rate.
“Traders sell to the market at a better price. But may this be a lesson to NFRA that in business never take advantage of the disadvantaged. Further, export bans do not stop maize flow, our borders are too porous to be controlled.”
Kasungu was one of the farmers who
failed to sell maize to NFRA. | Nation
When asked if there has been dialogue with the government on the prices to allow NFRA resume buying, Mijiga-Mhango said such talks have not occurred because “no one is desperate to sell”.
She said: “The open market price is better than their price. Our only fear is that their action will discourage production in the coming season. The worst case scenario will be us losing our hard earned harvest to our neighbours.
“Any market ban or ad hoc policy shift on agriculture commodity trading, affects the farmers more. A trader is simply a bridge between producer and buyer, and there are a lot of critical roles that a trader plays that the two cannot manage.”
In a separate interview, agriculture policy expert Tamani Nkhono-Mvula agreed with Mijiga-Mhango, saying, government cannot expect the farmers who produced and the traders that procured at a much higher price to sell and make profit at the price NFRA is offering.
He said: “If you are buying from farmers at a price much lower than the current market price or even the farm gate price, how do you expect these farmers to repay the loans? There has to be a proper balance between cost of production and revenue.
“Most farmers may not raise enough resources to produce again, but also lending institutions will be reluctant to provide them with loans again because they will not be able to repay the loans they obtained.”
Nkhono-Mvula expressed fear that NFRA will not be able to buy as much local maize because a majority of smallholder farmers may not be able to produce as much unless the government is willing and preparing to import maize every year.
Mwapata Institute executive director William Chadza also expressed fear that the low prices may demotivate farmers from growing maize next season, given the high input costs.
“Lower prices could potentially undermine farmers’ and traders’ viability amidst high costs of inputs such as fertilisers, seeds and transport. NFRA needs to ensure that its pricing is also informed by evidence in terms of gross margins,” he urged.
Economist Sam Katengeza, who is also director of research and outreach at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar), urged NFRA to consider the plight of farmers as well as traders and negotiate a fair price.
“This lean season for example, NFRA had to import maize from Zambia at a time farmers and traders had some maize.
“It is costly for the nation to import at a time forex remains critical. Again, it’s a loss for farmers and traders because they have no reliable market and continue storing the commodity, incurring more costs and postharvest losses,” he said.
Katengeza said this year has also been characterised by erratic rains in some areas which will affect productivity and this should be factored in on decisions government makes.
On his part, agriculture research extension expert Leonard Chimwaza agreed, saying the decision to reduce the purchasing price for maize was in itself a retarding development to those farmers who produced it with high expensive inputs.
He said: “Such development affects the return on investment on the part of the producers owing to the extra operation costs like storage and transportation.
“In some areas within Malawi aggregators are selling at around K1000 per kg hence sellers opting for the local markets as opposed to the government one.”
There was no response from the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development as well as NFRA on the matter.
However, in a February 9 2026 communication, NFRA said the decision followed market research which showed significant decreases in maize prices across the country.
In the proposed K10.9 trillion 2026/27 National Budget tabled in Parliament in Lilongwe on Friday, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Decentralisation Joseph Mwanamvekha said government has allocated K60 billion towards replenishing Strategic Grain Reserves managed by NFRA.
