Govt defends maize imports
Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development George Chaponda has defended plans to source one million metric tonnes (MT) of maize from abroad, saying the number of people affected by drought could reach eight million.
Malawi has a projected maize requirement of 1 290 000MT to avert a food crisis in the season, including 790 000MT specifically for populations severely affected by drought for the period April 2016 to March 2017.
But it is the one million MT of maize alone which has to be imported that caused a stir in Parliament on Tuesday.
Government has projected that it needs close to K250 billion for imports alone as the maize would no longer come from within the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region because countries such as South Africa and Zambia,
which could provide relief, have also been affected by El Nino.
Reacting to Chaponda’s ministerial statement outlining the food situation, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) chief whip in the House Lobin Lowe dismissed the idea to import as it would adversely affect local maize producers and rule out increasing production of maize by commercial farmers.
State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has asked commercial maize growers with irrigation capacity to grow maize as a winter crop to alleviate food insecurity.
On the other hand, government has also announced plans to import one million MT which is three quarters of the maize requirement. which could provide relief, have also been affected by El Nino.
Reacting to Chaponda’s ministerial statement outlining the food situation, Malawi Congress Party (MCP) chief whip in the House Lobin Lowe dismissed the idea to import as it would adversely affect local maize producers and rule out increasing production of maize by commercial farmers.
State produce trader Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) has asked commercial maize growers with irrigation capacity to grow maize as a winter crop to alleviate food insecurity.
On the other hand, government has also announced plans to import one million MT which is three quarters of the maize requirement. behind this.”
But in his response, Chaponda, who is also Leader of the House/Government Business, said importation was one measure government was putting in place to address the crisis.
He said: “Government has laid out a plan to import about one million metric tonnes of white maize to fill the food gap. The importation will be done by both Admarc and the National Food Reserve Agency [NFRA].”
The minister confirmed, however, that a larger population was likely to face food shortages, with the World Food Programme (WFP) rapid assessment putting the figure at 8.4 million Malawians who have no harvest due to El Nino effects.
“The honourable member is giving wrong information about importation of maize. We have come up with immediate plans to ensure food security which also includes Admarc buying from farmers, sourcing maize from surrounding countries and strengthening existing irrigation schemes. We are not focusing on importation of maize alone,” Chaponda said.
He told the House that South Africa and Zambia were also looking to South America and Europe for maize imports so Malawi could not source from them.
It is expected that the short-term measures would be carried out in this financial year and part of the 2016/17 financial year while the medium-term measures, cover the financial year 2016/17 through to about two to three fiscal years and five years for long-term measures which include reviving long abandoned irrigation schemes. n
