Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Kondwani Nankhumwa, announced that the government, through Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc), will start buying maize from smallholder farmers early next month.

“We are pleased to announce that this year, we will start buying maize from smallholder farmers earlier than in previous years. This has been done to stop the maize from landing in the hands of vendors,” Nankhumwa said.

Admarc Acting Chief Executive Officer, Felix Jumbe, revealed that the state-owned grain trader has targeted to buy at least 20% of the total maize tonnage which Malawi is expected to harvest this year. “We are buying as much as we can to ensure that 20% of the estimated production is under our roof. We are soliciting funds and designing modalities on how we can deal with real farmers on the ground,” he said.