Parliament gives Admarc 7-day ultimatum to open markets
Failure by Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) to open its markets as scheduled has again compelled the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Irrigation to issue a seven-day ultimatum for the parastatal to explain the reasons.
The committee had initially given the State grain trader up to last Friday to open its markets nationwide, but this did not happen.
Chairperson for the committee, Joseph Chidanti Malunga, confirmed yesterday that Admarc has been given up to October 8 to give satisfactory reasons for its failure to open the markets.
of the day early this year
He said: “When they appeared before us, about a week ago, they had indicated they were going to open the markets by September 30. Today is October 2 and we don’t know what is going on. If there are any hiccups we would like to know so that the nation is updated as well.”
Malawi is experiencing one of its worst hunger situations in recent years because of last year’s El Nino-induced drought, which cut maize output by about 39 percent relative to last year, putting about 6.5 million people on the brink of starvation.
The bone of contention regarding the opening of the markets is the price. Admarc management and board want the price to go up from the current K110 per kilogramme (kg), which experts have long argued is way below the market price.
Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development is yet to approve the new price.
Vendors are selling the staple grain at between K260 and K300 per kg.
In March this year, Treasury gave Admarc a guarantee to borrow up to $10 million (K7.3 billion) to purchase maize in the 2016 marketing season.
But Malunga said his committee felt Admarc was not being transparent enough with its explanations; hence, the ultimatum.
In an interview yesterday, Admarc chief executive officer Foster Mulumbe asked for more time before commenting on the issue, saying he had been away and needed to get an update from his officials.
“I didn’t attend that meeting because I was away, so, I will be getting a report from my colleagues who were there before I can comment on these issues,” he said. n
