Admarc to start buying maize

The Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has said it will start buying maize from farmers next week.

According to the parastatal, farmers will be able to sell their maize at its 337 markets countrywide starting next week.

Admarc officials told the local media that government has given the company K7.5 billion to buy maize from smallholder farmers.

This comes weeks after smallholder farmers complained that they failed to sell their maize to National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) because politicians with links to the ruling party were prioritised.

The agency was buying the maize at K130 per Kilogramme despite government setting a minimum price of K170 per Kilogramme.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Malawi this year produced a 30 percent maize surplus.

Earlier this year, government banned maize exports. After farmers harvested their maize, there were concerns concerns from farmers that the ban was affecting them since they could not benefit from their sweat because local traders were buying maize at prices below the government set minimum price.

President Peter Mutharika lifted the maize export ban last month to allow farmers sell their maize wherever they wanted though some quarters said the ban was removed at a time farmers had already been exploited by traders.