By Wezzie Gausi:
The Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has said it will distribute 21,000 metric tonnes of maize in its custody to all its depots from next week.
This comes as a surprise as, in the 2022-23 rain-fed agriculture season, the grain trader did not buy maize from farmers in the country.
Admarc Chief Executive Officer Dan Makata told The Daily Times that preparations to start distributing the maize have been finalised.
Makata said the maize will be sold at K600 per kilogramme.
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“I can confirm that Admarc has maize in stock and we are ready to open our markets next week. People should expect to buy maize from us at an affordable price as always.
“Admarc is drawing the SGR [Strategic Grain Reserves] maize which was bought by the National Food Reserves Agency last year,” Makata said.
Meanwhile, agriculture policy expert Horace Phiri has said it is good that Admarc is planning to open markets.
He said it would be important for the statutory corporation to start the exercise in areas where maize is in short supply and prices are high.
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“According to the IFPRI report for November 2023, maize prices were highest in southern Malawi. It would be good to take affordable maize to those areas. Measures should also be put in place to avoid this reasonably priced maize from being sold to vendors,” Phiri said.
