Government quest to procure additional maize stocks from neighbouring Zambia has been halted following revelations that the grain will only be available for shipment into the country at least by September this year.
On Monday, Agriculture and Water Development Minister, George Chaponda, revealed in an interview that 200, 000 metric tonnes (mt) of maize will only be made available to Malawi three months from now from the neighbouring country due to the election fever that has gripped the Southern Africa nation.
Zambians are expected to go to the polls on August 11.
“I went there myself in the company o f Admarc [ Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation] officials and met the minister [of agriculture] who allowed us to buy 200, 000mt of maize but because of the political situation there, that maize will only be available for collection from September this year,” said Chaponda.
This means the deal to buy the maize might also fall off or might require renegotiating if there is a government change in Zambia.
World Food Programme (WFP), however, Chaponda disclosed has been allowed to procure 100, 000mt, “Since the maize WFP is procuring is for immediate humanitarian response and they have been allowed immediate shipment.”
He said government is also courting private traders as middle men in an effort to strike a deal to buy maize from Southern America nations including Mexico and Brazil.
“We have not ourselves done anything but people are negotiating that we buy the maize on forward contracts where they will have to come with the maize for us to buy,” said Chaponda.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment (Mvac) says 39 percent of the country’s population, an equivalent of 6.5 million people out of 16.8 million people will not be able to meet their annual food requirement during the 2016 / 17 consumption periods.
This, Mvac says, represents a record 129 percent increase from 2.8 million people recorded between 2015 / 16 season.
This means government will have to cough an estimated K148 billion to buy 493, 000 mt of maize in order to ensure that the affected population survive up to the next harvest period without disrupting their social-economic livelihoods.
In the draft budget currently under deliberation in Parliament, government has allocated K 35. 5 billion for maize purchase.
Since President Peter Mutharika declared the country a state of disaster sometime in April, the country has been getting overwhelming support from the donor community and development partners alike.
So far, the government of the United States of America has respond by providing the Malawi Government with $63 million while the Chinese government has committed to support the country with 6,000mt of rice valued at $9.2 million, according to Chaponda.
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