The National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) plans to procure 108 000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize for its strategic grain reserves (SGRs).
In an interview yesterday, NFRA chief executive officer Bruce Munthali said the agency will procure 86 500MT through a competitive tendering process while the remaining 21 500MT will be procured from traders on a first come, first served basis.
He, however, said NFRA was yet to receive funding for the exercise but that the institution was engaging the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development and Treasury on the matter.
Said Munthali: “We anticipate that the funds will be released this week, so we will see what happens as we close the week.”
In the 2025/26 National Budget, NFRA was allocated K60 billion, but at the farm gate price of K900 per kilogramme (kg), the agency would require about K97.2 billion to purchase the required 108 000MT of maize.
Munthali said the agency is also exploring additional sources of funding, including support from local and international partners, noting that the maize would also be used for emergency response.
He further said the agency has floated the tender despite not having resources in hand because the procurement process takes time to complete.
A request for bids notice dated June 13 2026 published on the NFRA website indicates that NFRA intends to procure 40 000MT for Kanengo Depot in Lilongwe, 14 000MT for Luchenza Depot in Thyolo and 10 000MT each for Mangochi and Mzuzu depots.
The agency also seeks 3 500MT for Limbe Depot in Blantyre and 3 000MT each for Bangula in Nsanje, Kazomba in Mzimba and Karonga depots.
In an interview on Tuesday, Grain Traders Association of Malawi president Grace Mijiga-Mhango described the tender as a positive development, saying traders are struggling to find markets for their maize.
However, she warned that NFRA would have to offer at least K1 000 per kilogramme to attract sufficient supplies.
She said: “By this time, traders have already incurred costs for transportation, fumigation and, in some cases, financing. There is no way they can sell maize at K900 per kg at this time in the year.”
Agriculture expert Leonard Chimwaza said most farmers have already disposed of their harvests, leaving traders and aggregators as the main suppliers.
He said the delivery requirements outlined in the tender would likely increase costs further because suppliers will be responsible for transporting maize from their warehouses to designated NFRA depots.
“The danger of entering the market late is that NFRA ends up buying maize at a higher price than it would have paid had funds been released earlier,” said Chimwaza.
The latest initiative to procure maize comes months after farmers and traders rejected NFRA’s buying price of K840 per kilogramme, arguing that the commodity should fetch at least K1 100 per kilogramme.
Former NFRA chief executive officer George Macheka told the Parliamentary Cluster Committee on Agriculture and Food Security and Natural Resources, Energy and Climate Change in March that while the agency has capacity to hold 340 000 MT of maize, studies show that for the country to be safe and food secure, the SGRs need to hold 217 000MT annually or at least 150 000MT.
