The Department of Disaster Management Affairs has engaged various stakeholders to discuss possible relief food distribution to vulnerable households which are likely to be affected by hunger this year. In its National Food Security Forecast for April this year to March 2014, the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (Mvac) projected that over 1. 4 million people […]
Police in the northern region have made an impassioned plea to the media to assist in disseminating information against maize smuggling to Tanzania and Zambia as one way of curbing the practice. “It’s true that our presence along the borders is not adequate. We have 11000 Police Officer against 15 million Malawians. “That is why […]
The World Food Programme (WFP), a largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, says it requires 8,800 metric tons of food, valued at $5.4 million to meet the needs of refugees in Malawi over the next two years. The agency announced this Wednesday when the US Ambassador to Malawi, Jeanine Jackson visited Dzaleka Refugee Camp in […]
Newly appointed Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Dr. James Munthali has issued a stern warning against the practice of hoarding maize by private traders, saying the government will pounce hard on the malpractice. The minister was speaking during the official launch of National Association of Aggregators (NAAG) an offshoot of the Presidential Initiative on […]
Government has pumped K1.3 billion to Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC ) for the purchase of maize and other food commodities from smallholder farmers. Minister of Agriculture and Food Security , James Kawifya Munthali disclosed this when he had an audience with Chitipa Agriculture Development Division staff at Chitipa Rural Development Project (RDP) Offices as part of his familiarization tour of the district […]
Maize is a political crop that has essentially enslaved Malawi as a nation. Despite being the staple diet of millions of ordinary Malawians, maize is not only one of the least nutritious foodstuffs in Malawi, but our blinkered monoculture production of it is both outdated and increasingly expensive. Since it requires enormous amounts of water […]
The Centre for Social Concern (CfSC) says its April basic needs basket (BNB) survey for a family of six has revealed some cost of living stabilisation in Malawi’s cities. The BNB survey contains prices reviews of basic food and non food items such as rent, school fees utility bills, soap, maize cooking and charcoal among […]
President Joyce Banda has written a letter of demands to Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) Executive Director John Kapito, demanding a retraction of his remarks that the country’s current maize scarcity is her creation or risk legal action. Banda through her lawyer Wapona Kita of Ralph & Arnold Associates on March 8, 2013 wrote Kapito […]
Ministry of Agriculture officials have projected that the country will have a surplus of 940,000 metric tonnes of maize from this year’s harvest. This was disclosed Wednesday at a joint news conference held in the capital Lilongwe by officials from ministries of trade and industry, agriculture and food security and information. Agriculture minister Peter Mwanza however […]
Malawi’s sole grain marketer the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) has started purchasing maize from local farmers in a bid to boost its reserves which are now empty. The move comes barely a day after President Joyce Banda instructed ADMARC officials during a political rally at Masintha ground in the capital Lilongwe to immediately […]
Government has been asked to institute an official inquiry to establish the reason why 30,000 metric tonnes of maize went bad in the grain reserves. Consumer Association of Malawi (CAMA) in a statement issued by its boss John Kapito, fierce critic of government, demanded that an inquiry should focus on “the total quantity of rotten […]
A vocal human rights activist Billy Mayaya has added his voice to the growing chorus for President Joyce Banda to take action on reports that staple grain, maize in the grain reserves were rotten. About 30 000 metric tonnes of maize is damaged at the silos when Malawi faces a shortage of the grain on […]
Vice President Khumbo Kachali has ordered National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) to speed up release of maize grain into Admarc markets, saying the agency needs to be conscious of the needs of Malawians and find alternatives to its slow pace of operation. Kachali was speaking at Mzuzu silos where he paid a suprise visit to […]
A group of senior Malawi Government officials is in the Zambian capital Lusaka to reportedly buy maize from that government, according to online media reports. Zambian Watchdog quoting unnamed government sources reported that the Malawian officials arrived in that country over the weekend and were accommodated at one of the most expensive Zambian hotels, Pamodzi […]
Malawi President Joyce Banda has threatened to sue consumer rights activist John Kapito over remarks he made that the country’s current maize scarcity is her creation. The Consumers Association of Malawi (CAMA) boss blamed President Banda of creating the hunger situation so that she should be distributing the maize to needy people in order to […]
The head of the UN’s food agency has praised Malawi for its efforts to combat hunger, despite pressure on food prices, rising inflation and previous crop shortages. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) director general, José Graziano da Silva, recognised the advances the country has made under President Joyce Banda, but stressed the need to build on improvements in agriculture: […]
Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) boss John Kapito has blamed President Joyce Banda for emptying national maize silos thereby creating hunger in the country. Kapito has since asked President Banda to explain as to where she is getting the maize she is distributing to impoverished people. The consumer advocate and fierce critic of government in […]
Businessperson Leston Mulli, managing director of Mulli Brothers Limited has reportedly refused to supply maize to Malawi Prisons after the collection services had sent an SOS to him following the food shortage which has hit the jails. Mulli, who claims to be squeezed by the government, confirmed that he had been approached to supply maize on credit but […]