Castel Malawi will soon be contracting local commercial farmers to grow maize and rice to be used as raw materials in the production of malt beer, as the firm’s head of external affairs Godwin Ng’oma revealed that the development follows after meeting the Ministry of Trade.

As the raw materials were imported, the Minister of Trade, Sosten Gwengwe said the development is a result of the Buy Malawi Strategy campaign. The campaign is also moving towards boosting local manufacturing firms.

The news is a ray of hope for farmers, as they have bemoaned unstable markets on which to sell their produce, while Admarc owes them K1.2 billion for the 55 000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize it bought from them three months ago. In January this year, during the launch of the Agriculture Commercialisation (Agcom) project, World Bank Country Manager for Malawi, Greg Toulmin, called on the government to act on ensuring that the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) performs its expected functions and reduces market distortions. Moving forward, the Minister of Agriculture, Lobin Lowe, promised small scale farmers last week that the ministry is working on creating structured markets for agricultural commodities.