BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)—As hunger threatens millions of Malawians, Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has said its selling depots will be opened in September.Admarc chief executive officer Foster Mulumbe confirmed of the development adding markets in worst hit areas, including the Shire Valley and Nayuchi in Machinga, will be opened earlier.
“We currently have an excess of over 60 000 MT of maize which should take us through to December. This is more than we started with last year when we were opening our markets when we had 51 000 MT,” said Mulumbe in an interview with The Nation.
He said the maize will be sold at a subsidized price of K110 per kilogramme (kg) until such a time when consultations on the new price are concluded.
According to the findings of the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee, 6.5 million people, nearly half of Malawi’s population, will require food assistance until the next harvest season.
The committee attributed the food shortage situation to drought and the El Nino weather phenomenon which affected this year’s harvests.
Meanwhile, the department of disaster management led by Vice President Saulos Chilima and the World Food Program (WFP) have started distribution of relief food to people in 24 of the country’s 28 districts worst hit by food shortages.