Imminent maize shortage in Malawi

THE Malawian government has directed its national grain reserve, the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) to ration the remaining maize in its silos following a parliamentary probe committee revelation that the country's maize stocks will not see the nation through to the next harvest.

The move comes just a few months after the Malawian government generously sold more than 400,000 tonnes of its maize to Zimbabwe, which had run out of the staple food.

The sale of the maize, which was personally presided over by Malawi president Bingu wa Mutharika, raised eye brows in parliament after it was discovered that the Malawian leader had allowed Zimbabwe to stagger payments for the maize.

Dzoole Mwale, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture, yesterday said the rationing came after an assessment found that most government markets either had a shortage or were running out of the staple food.

"We found serious maize shortages in Admarc markets in most parts of the country and this has created serious problems especially in the urban areas where people rely on buying maize from Admarc to feed their families. But we are happy that government has moved in quickly and started rationing the sales to make sure that everyone has a share," he said.

Mwale however said the committee was still to investigate circumstances surrounding the shortage, with the sale of maize to Zimbabwe also being put into scrutiny.

As a result of the imminent shortage, was only allowing people to buy not more than 25 kg of maize a month.