vendors exploiting maize farmers

Amid a deficit in maize, some vendors are buying the staple grain from desperate farmers at K90 per kilogramme (kg) despite government setting the minimum buying price of K100 per kg.

This is coming at a time the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Mvac) report estimated that 2.8 million Malawians—about 20 percent of the country’s population—face starvation this year due to shortage of the grain occasioned by dry spells and drought that hit some parts of the country.

A final crop estimate expected to be released will show that there will be a 30.2 percent decline in maize output, according to Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development officials.

In April, the ministry announced a 27.7 percent shortfall in this year’s harvest, projecting that the country would yield 2.8 million metric tonnes of maize, down from last year’s 3.9 million metric tonnes.

A snap survey Business News conducted in Kasungu, Dowa, Mchinji and Lilongwe districts showed none of the vendors are buying maize at the minimum price that Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development had set.

In an interview yesterday, one of the vendors, Potphar Ndolo, who trades at Madisi Trading Centre in Dowa, said they buy at lower prices than K100 to avoid making losses.

He said they sell the grain to produce companies in Lilongwe at K105 per kg.

“You, therefore, have noted that if we buy at K100, we will not make any profit,” he said.

Ndolo said vendors were only able to buy the grain at K100 in June when the companies were offering K112 per kg.

He, however, said since the price reduction, sales have gone down from 7 500 kg to 1 000 kg a day.

Another vendor from Lilongwe, Menford Phiri, said most of the farmers are desperate to sell the maize.

“We are prepared to buy maize at not more than K90 per kg because we also want to make profit as vendors when we sell it,” he said.

The exploitation of farmers by vendors comes at a time Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) chief executive officer Foster Mulumbe said they have started buying maize from the farmers.

He, however, could not indicate at what price they are buying.

Normally, it is Admarc that buys from farmers at a reasonable price compared to vendors.

In the last sitting of Parliament, members of Parliament (MPs) authorised Admarc to borrow K4 billion from commercial banks for buying maize and other agriculture produce on the market.

Meanwhile, the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) is buying maize through AHL Commodities Exchange (AHCX) and Agriculture Commodities Exchange (ACE) to replenish its strategic grain reserves at Kanengo in Lilongwe.

Government, through NFRA, recently invited bids for the supply of maize at K95 000 per metric tonne which translates into K95 per kilogramme.