Mega Farmers Union has threatened to sue the Malawi Government for defamation following Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Roza Mbilizi’s publication of a list of defaulters under the mega farms initiative.
In total, there are at least 800 farmers under the initiative and the union’s chairperson Vasco Madhlopa yesterday said each farmer is claiming K500 million, which adds up to K400 billion.
Two weeks ago, Mbilizi announced in Parliament in Lilongwe names of Mega Farm Initiative beneficiaries who allegedly defaulted on loans obtained from the Malawi Agriculture and Industrial Investment Corporation (Maiic).
public apology. | Andrew Viano
Madhlopa, speaking on the sidelines of the farmers’ meeting in Lilongwe yesterday, said the publication of the list has damaged the farmers’ reputations, strained business relationships and affected their standing with financial institutions.
He said most of the maize the farmers produced and supplied as per arrangement went to waste as government negotiations for markets stalled while some farmers were forced to sell to vendors at low prices, leading to losses and loan repayment challenges.
Madhlopa said neither Maiic nor the Mega Farms Unit consulted the farmers before releasing the list and called for loan restructuring, insisting the farmers are willing to repay.
He said: “The minister addressed Parliament and announced the names and amounts owed. That was defamation. Our obligation is to Maiic, not government.
“We demand a public apology through Parliament, failing which we will consider further action, including boycotting maize production across our combined 150 000 hectares.”
Madhlopa said the crop in the field was used as collateral, with Maiic conducting seasonal verification visits.
Crop assessments in May 2025 reportedly projected maize yields of between 150 000 and 180 000 metric tonnes (MT) from mega farms.
According to Madhlopa, the agreed farm-gate price was K1 350 per kilogramme, requiring more than K200 billion to purchase the full volume.
However, he claimed that National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) and Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) received a combined K60 billion, most of which went towards buying maize from smallholder farmers.
Madhlopa said that when mega farmers attempted to deliver maize to NFRA in June 2025, only 3 000MT were bought out of an expected minimum of 150 000MT, leaving most farmers without a market.
Yesterday, Mbilizi was unavailable for comment while Principal Secretary Erica Maganga and ministry spokesperson Salome Gangire could also not be reached.
Meanwhile, agricultural economist Horace Phiri from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources said the programme has had grey areas from the start.
“It’s a tricky situation. We are dealing with technical loan issues, but we cannot ignore that some of these loans may have had political undertones,” he said, urging Maiic and the farmers to agree on a repayment model.
Commercial farmer Felix Jumbe said the stand-off reflects a misunderstanding of the mega farm concept.
Maiic chief executive officer Lloyd Banda did not respond to our calls when we sought his comment.
However, Maiic previously stated that since the 2023/24 season, the initiative has received K22.2 billion in funding, K20 billion in its first year and K2.4 billion in the 2024/25 fiscal year.
