Farmers across parts of Malawi are still waiting for ADMARC markets to fully open, even as the grain buyer says it has already spent most of its available maize procurement funds.
Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) Chief Executive Officer Ben Botolo says the institution has so far received only K5 billion out of the K60 billion allocated in the national budget for crop purchases this financial year.
Botolo told this publication that out of the K5 billion released for maize procurement, ADMARC has already spent about K4 billion, representing roughly 80 percent of the available funds.
He says the rapid utilization of the limited funding has slowed down the rollout of ADMARC’s 359 markets across the country, leaving many farmers unable to sell their produce at designated buying points.
Botolo says the demand on the ground is far greater than the available resources. He warns that Malawi’s bumper harvest this season could be followed by a difficult lean period, urging stronger investment in food reserves and preparedness measures.
“The K5 billion looks like a lot of money, but when you divide it across 359 markets, you may see that it is very little money, depending on the crop. This year, there has been a huge bumper yield of maize, and next year, unfortunately, there is expected to be a La Niña year, where there is no clear predictability of weather patterns.
“We may have rains coming for a short time and then they disappear. So we need to prepare this time, we need to invest in preparedness, we need to buy crops, we need to buy maize so that during that lean period we are able to smooth out the consumption of the people,” said Botolo.
He also pointed out that ADMARC is still awaiting recapitalization funding, saying this remains critical for the institution’s survival and expansion of crop purchases beyond maize.
“Within the capitalization budget, we are looking to purchase cotton, rice, pigeon peas and other crops,” Botolo said, adding that diversification is key to strengthening ADMARC’s trading capacity.
Farmers in several districts have meanwhile raised concern that ADMARC markets in their areas are yet to open, limiting their ability to sell produce at a time when harvests are peaking.
Responding to the concerns, Botolo said the rollout of markets depends on availability of funds, crop maturity and regional production patterns. He explained that some areas, such as the Lower Shire, are focused on crops like cotton and millet, while maize trading remains limited in certain districts due to seasonal timing.
He further noted that in northern districts such as Karonga, much of the maize is still green and not ready for purchase, while rice is already being procured in some areas. ADMARC, he added, expects to scale up maize purchases in places like Chitipa and other northern zones around August when crops dry properly.
On storage and handling, Botolo said ADMARC has deployed specialized maize handling machines across its divisions but acknowledged challenges with power supply. He said some equipment cannot operate effectively due to inadequate transformer capacity in certain areas.
“We needed about 300 KVA transformers in those divisions,” he said, adding that the institution is in the process of acquiring additional transformers to stabilize operations.
He revealed that the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) has stepped in temporarily by providing transformers to support the operations while ADMARC completes its procurement process.
Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) Chief Executive Officer Ben Botolo says the institution has so far received only K5 billion out of the K60 billion allocated in the national budget for crop purchases this financial year.
Botolo told this publication that out of the K5 billion released for maize procurement, ADMARC has already spent about K4 billion, representing roughly 80 percent of the available funds.
He says the rapid utilization of the limited funding has slowed down the rollout of ADMARC’s 359 markets across the country, leaving many farmers unable to sell their produce at designated buying points.
Botolo says the demand on the ground is far greater than the available resources. He warns that Malawi’s bumper harvest this season could be followed by a difficult lean period, urging stronger investment in food reserves and preparedness measures.
“The K5 billion looks like a lot of money, but when you divide it across 359 markets, you may see that it is very little money, depending on the crop. This year, there has been a huge bumper yield of maize, and next year, unfortunately, there is expected to be a La Niña year, where there is no clear predictability of weather patterns.
“We may have rains coming for a short time and then they disappear. So we need to prepare this time, we need to invest in preparedness, we need to buy crops, we need to buy maize so that during that lean period we are able to smooth out the consumption of the people,” said Botolo.
He also pointed out that ADMARC is still awaiting recapitalization funding, saying this remains critical for the institution’s survival and expansion of crop purchases beyond maize.
“Within the capitalization budget, we are looking to purchase cotton, rice, pigeon peas and other crops,” Botolo said, adding that diversification is key to strengthening ADMARC’s trading capacity.
Farmers in several districts have meanwhile raised concern that ADMARC markets in their areas are yet to open, limiting their ability to sell produce at a time when harvests are peaking.
Responding to the concerns, Botolo said the rollout of markets depends on availability of funds, crop maturity and regional production patterns. He explained that some areas, such as the Lower Shire, are focused on crops like cotton and millet, while maize trading remains limited in certain districts due to seasonal timing.
He further noted that in northern districts such as Karonga, much of the maize is still green and not ready for purchase, while rice is already being procured in some areas. ADMARC, he added, expects to scale up maize purchases in places like Chitipa and other northern zones around August when crops dry properly.
On storage and handling, Botolo said ADMARC has deployed specialized maize handling machines across its divisions but acknowledged challenges with power supply. He said some equipment cannot operate effectively due to inadequate transformer capacity in certain areas.
“We needed about 300 KVA transformers in those divisions,” he said, adding that the institution is in the process of acquiring additional transformers to stabilize operations.
He revealed that the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) has stepped in temporarily by providing transformers to support the operations while ADMARC completes its procurement process.
