Malawi24 Editorial: Govt should reduce maize price if no one is to die of hunger

President Peter Mutharika and Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development’s recent remarks that Malawians will not die of hunger seems to just bring comfort to the victims of hunger in the country as staple grain price remain high on the market.

While we are commending the Malawi government for working around the clock to ensure that the country has maize for its citizens following persistent dry spells that left nearly half of the population in food crisis, we would like to whisper to the authorities that the amount of money that a poor Malawian is to pay for a bag will remain a challenge if something is not done.

The country’s Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) disclosed that Malawi has already imported 500 Metric Tons (MT) that is to be sold at K250 per kilogram (Kg) meaning that a bag of maize weighing 50Kgs is on the market at K12, 500.

According to authorities, the price that has been given to Malawians will just help Admarc recover the investing money that was used to buy the grains from neighboring countries and if that is the case we rate the government with five stars for doing justice to the money that was used for the purchase of maize. But if the intended purpose is to save citizens from hunger, then government has to come up with another plan of how people are to be secured with food because the price is not favorable to people who are in rural areas.

When some people are mentioning of K12, 500 they talk of airtime that they use before the end of the day while for someone living in remote area, that’s a big hustle they are going to take and a few make it to have such money to buy their needs, and with extended families they have we don’t think a bag can take them up to thirty days.

We have tried to find out how it feels to be told that you are supposed to pay the announced price at Admarc when you are in villages and the answers we got were shocking looking at how people struggle to get K1000.

For someone living in Machinga district to be specific Namandanje area under Traditional Authority (TA) Liwonde to find money they are supposed to go for a wage labor and being given fifteen by fifteen meters yard (Ndime) to make ridges for that person to get K300. And those that are strong enough can go for three ndime in one day but by the time they finish that work it is always near the sunset.

We thought of elderly persons trying to get money in that way because they cannot go to someone’s place and ask to be employed as a watchman or a house keeper as such jobs are rare in our rural areas unlike in towns and we find it very impossible for a person in their 70s to have such type of work just to get K300.

During a tour we had in August in the area of chief of Nsanama in the same district, when mangoes were not matured, ready to be eaten, some families were cooking green pawpaws for a meal and they explained to us that they were eating such food because they had no money to buy maize from vendors who were selling the grains at a better price than government through Admarc now.

Having same experience we had in Machinga, some Members of Parliament (MP’s) showed no mercy with questions to the minister responsible George Chaponda on why they set such a price. His answers were that government through Admarc is just recovering the money that was used to buy the grains.

He went further explaining that a reserved stock of maize is to be distributed to such people whom we met. But looking at how that process of distributing free things in the country goes, we can confidently confirm that government is in trouble with its people.

We are talking of a process where chiefs are involved to identify those that are very poor and they opt to have names of relations to benefit or demand cash from those that wish to be listed for such initiative.

Greedy chiefs are a block to what government wish to be normal that those that are very poor must get the donation and when government starts to distribute that reserved stock of maize, we are to have such reports of chiefs demanding cash from people that are to benefit or taking on board list for names of relations.

If Mutharika’s prophesy is to be true that “no one is to die of hunger” then government must think of subsidizing the purchase of maize as pleaded by people from Saidi village, Traditional authority (TA) Malengachanzi in Nkhotakota district and to make sure that vendors are not one’s hijacking the process of buying the maize.