The country’s social monitoring body, Center for Social Concern (CFSC) has emphasized the need for the Malawi government through Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) to increase supplies at all selling points with maize in a bid to reduce the commodity’s scarcity other than hiking prices and rationing.
The call comes as Admarc on September 17, 2013 hiked the price of maize to MK110 from MK80 per kilogram which means that 50kg of maize is now at MK5, 500 from MK4, 000 representing 37 percent hike.
The nation’s sole maize marketer is also implementing a rationing system of maximum 20 kg per buyer which according to CFSC creates an impression that the commodity is scarce. This will result into further hiking of prices.
Through CFSC monthly data analysis report on Basic Needs Basket (BNB) of August released on September 21, 2015 which was available to The Maravi post revealed that on average a 50 kilogram of maize was sold at MK6,500, MK8,000, MK7,583, MK6,300, MK5,750 and MK8,000 in Lilongwe, Zomba, Blantyre, Mzuzu, Karonga and Mangochi respectively.
The Maravi Post on Wednesday, September 30, caught up with Mathias Kafunda, CFSC’s Economic Governance and Justice Programme officer on the prospects of the recent maize price hiking and rationing with the observation that such development has created an impression that the country is insufficient of the commodity which might increase its
prices further than the current situation.
Kafunda said flooding all selling points across the nation with maize would be an ideal to caution the scarcity of the commodity in instances private traders might hold their maize for further hiking of the price.
“Although the current maize price hike is still on the lower side than that of the parallel markets, the move has created an impression that the commodity is in low buck which vendors are will take advantage to hold their commodities for future sale which might raise its prices further.
“Rationing of maize has never worked based on the number of family members are required to be fed with enough food. A family of six can’t survive on 20 kilogram of maize which means the family will require to go to Admarc for ten times with huge sum of money more than what could have been used to purchase the commodity if it were at 50
kilogram than at 20 kilogram.
“Thus, government could have flooded all selling points with maize to caution any holding of maize which attributes to the prices’ hike and scarcity of the commodity. This might lessened the time local people take to search for food”, appeals Kafunda.
With 27.7 percent of this year’s maize production decline, 2.8 million Malawians across the nation are facing acute shortage of hunger.
