The Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has stopped buying maize from local farmers in some parts of the country, raising speculation that the grain marketer has exhausted the K5 billion allocation from the government.
Some Admarc depots in rural areas of Chitipa, Karonga, Mzimba and Rumphi districts have not transacted for about a month, Malawi News can reveal, with officials telling farmers that there is no money.
The development has reignited calls for the government to lift the export ban it placed on the staple grain two years ago following persistent occurrences of El-Nino, drought and floods which left over six million Malawians dependent on food aid.
Farmers from Kameme and Kapenda in Chitipa have slammed government for maintaining the ban when it is failing to buy all the maize from farmers who are trying to make ends meet from the sales.
“The Admarc satellite market opened just for a day since it was announced that the corporation had started purchasing maize from farmers. We were told, a day later, that the money had been exhausted. Since then, there has been no business.
“Now they are sending Malawi Defence Force soldiers to stop us from selling our own maize to neighbouring countries and, yet, they cannot provide a profitable market for our yields,” said Andrew Mtambo from Kapenda.
Latest crop production estimates by the Ministry of Agriculture show that maize production has risen to 3.2 million tonnes, up from last year’s 2.3 million tonnes.
On his part, Rodgers Mwambene of Karonga called on the government to consider lifting the maize export ban to enable farmers sell the grain across the borders where, he said, it is fetching better prices than in Malawi.
“In fact, sticking with Admarc is a mere case of patriotism; otherwise, the price offered is not commensurate with the costs incurred in buying inputs,” Mwambene said.
In a statement released last month, Admarc said it would be buying maize at K170 per kilogramme while vendors in Tanzania and Kenya are reported to be buying the grain at an average price of K400 for the same quantity.
When called for comment, Admarc spokesperson Agness Ndovie insisted that they are still buying maize “at times, though we do close our depots for stock taking”.
She, however, asked for a questionnaire which she is yet to respond to.
But Farmers Union of Malawi President, Alfred Kapichila Banda, accused the government of spearheading exploitation of farmers in a telephone interview yesterday.
“We have had meetings with the ministries of Agriculture and Trade and it came out clearly to us that they do not have the interest of local farmers at heart and yet, within their systems, there are business tycoons who are selling maize abroad at better prices than those offered to farmers,” Banda said.
Ministry of Agriculture, spokesperson Osborne Tsoka, was yet to give us responses on the matter as we went to bed, having earlier committed to doing so.
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