Malawi has enough maize till next harvesting season

Malawi has enough maize stocks to last up until the next harvesting season, the Board Chairman for the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), Ken Kandodo said Friday.

Briefing the press in Blantyre, Kandodo said the NFRA has over 60 000 metric tonnes of maize in its reserve stocks to be released only in times of crisis.

He parried media reports that the country's stocks have run out of maize due to its exportation to Zimbabwe.

"The contract which the country signed to supply maize to Zimbabwe can not betray our duty to the citizens of this country. Much as we appreciate the importance of this exercise, we would like to enlighten people in the country that the exported maize is taken from the 1.3 million metric tonnes surplus of 2007," he explained.

Government in March this year signed a contract to supply 400 000 Metric tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe.

Since the beginning of the exercise in April, 272,000 metric tonnes of maize have been exported to Zimbabwe as at December 20, 2007 marking the end of the first phase.

Kandodo said NFRA is taking caution of the situation that may erupt if the exercise was not being properly handled and is still making further securitization and consultations before venturing into the last phase of the agreement, which is expected to end on November 10, 2008.US$ 120 million (about MK17 billion) is expected to be generated by the end of the contract.

"We have a big responsibility in implementing government efforts to ensure the nation was food secure and it becomes disturbing when we read in the papers that all our maize is being exported," he said.

The Chairman added, "I would therefore urge you media practitioners to make proper research before jumping to conclusions on issues that have a human impact.

The General Manager for NFRA, Edward Sawerengera explained that maize exportation has motivated farmers to grow more maize as the price on the market has been stabilized.

"Without exporting, maize price could have dropped to below K8 per kilogram, as we all know the higher the supply the lower the demand, therefore the lower the price. This could have a great effect on farmers for they could not manage to raise money equivalent to what they spent during the growing process," he said.

Sawerengera cited Larger Grain Borer (LGB) as a greatest challenge during the exercise, as over 30 percent (300 000 tonnes) of the maize that was proposed for export were destroyed.