Malawi Government intends to award a K4.59 billion contract for the 2026/27 Farm Inputs Programme (FISP) to a company with a thin public record whose legal identity and ownership Malawi24 has yet to confirm.
A Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development notice dated 17 October names Renaissance Agriculture and Food Systems as the successful bidder for Lot 2: 765 metric tonnes of maize seed.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development wish to inform the general public that in line with Section 70, subsection 1 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act (2025), it intends to award a Contract for Supply and delivery of maize seed for the 2026/2027 Farm Inputs Program (FISP) as follows…” reads part of the notification.
A Lilongwe business trading as Renaissance Seeds, which names Chimwemwe Josia as founder and managing director, sells maize seed. Its legal relationship with the company named in the notice is unconfirmed.
Its website was registered in January 2026, and the email address it lists is on a domain that is not registered. The firm is not on the Seed Trade Association of Malawi’s 2023 list of member companies.
The largest quantity of maize seed Malawi24 could trace to the company before the award is 500 kilogrammes, which it donated to flood victims in Nkhotakota in January, according to Nyasa Times. The proposed contract is for 765,000 kilogrammes.
In April, the Ghana News Agency reported that Ghana’s Legacy Crop Improvement Centre (LCIC) had acquired Renaissance Seeds, without disclosing the price or the stake. Renaissance Seeds’ website lists a “Dr Amos Rutherford” among its directors; LCIC’s founder and chief executive is Dr Amos Rutherford Azinu.
The contract works out at about K6,000 per kilogramme. Renaissance Seeds’ website advertises maize seed at K10,000 per kilogramme retail. The notice does not name the seed varieties, and the Ministry has not published competing bids.
Meanwhile, the Ministry has invited any bidder with valid reasons to challenge the proposed award to formally write the Solicitor General and Secretary for Justice before October 31, 2026.
The questions that need answers before the award becomes a signed contract are who owns the bidder, whether it holds certified seed stocks, and whether it can deliver 765 tonnes.
The award comes as Malawi continues to struggle to turn subsidy spending into food security. The government’s 2026/27 Budget Policy Statement records the purchase of 103,000 metric tonnes of maize from Zambia, and projects that about 2.6 million people will face crisis-level food insecurity between October 2026 and March 2027, despite an improved harvest.
Malawi24 sought the Ministry of Agriculture’s clarification on the award, including the company’s eligibility and capacity to supply the required maize seed.
However, by the time of the publication, the Ministry’s spokesperson, Salome Gangire, had not responded to questions sent to her via WhatsApp last week, despite several follow-ups.
