Review: Malawi to export maize to Zimbabwe, Goodall confirms

Nyasa Times/AfricaNhttp://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/


Tuesday, 05 May 2009
Richard Chirombo

Malawi could this year export the stable food, maize, to Zimbabwe
again following Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security indications of
another bumper harvest, Malawi's Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe has hinted.

The country has for the third year running registered another pumper
maize harvest at 3.661 million tonnes- representing more than 1.461 million
tonnes of excess requirement. Malawians need 2.2 million tonnes to satisfy
their domestic maize requirement.
Agriculture and Food Security Principal Secretary, Andrew Daudi, has
attributed such excessive production to the subsidized fertilizer programme
and increased use of organic fertilizers by farmers.
Gondwe said Malawi would be duty-bound to export some of the maize
excess to domestic requirements to Zimbabwe, where he said another hunger
situation looms this year following poor harvests.
Zimbabwe, like Malawi, is a member state of the Southern African
Development Community (Sadc), which compels it and other member states to be
the first line of call to fellow members in cases of national calamities
including hunger.
"It is a very positive thing, and shows how committed this
administration has been in many areas including economic development and
food security. This year, we have again produced some hamper maize harvest
part of which we may export to Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has not harvested enough
this year," said Gondwe.
The Finance Minister did not elaborate on the actual figures that
could be exported.
Analysts have linked the persistent food shortages in Zimbabwe to the
seizure of white owned farms, a development they cite for leading to
decreased crop productivity. The situation has prompted the World Food
Programme to initiate various interventions in the bid to save people from
starvation.
In a related development, Gondwe revealed that government was in the
process of establishing a public food storage company whose main goal would
be to provide extra space for crop storage.
Gondwe said, under the arrangement, people would be able to deposit
their maize and other crops at the storage facilities for safe keeping,
after which they will be getting a receipt.
"They will, then, be able to use the receipts (as evidence of property
ownership) as collateral with commercial banks. But we are still discussing
the modalities, which are at an advanced stage, and will announce the
modalities later," said Gondwe.
This follows concerns from some quarters, including the Council for
Non-Governmental Organisation (Congoma) and the Malawi Economic Justice
Network, who want the country to invest in food storage mechanisms because
pumper crop yields end up rotting due to inadequate and poor storage
facilities
Congoma's Executive Director, Ted Nandolo, for instance, claims that
over half of last year's bumper maize yield got lost through rotting, or
couldn't be properly stored due to lack of space and ended up catching
moisture.
"We really feel that we need to invest in storage facilities for us to
be able to retain our maize crop harvests. This problem creates problems for
people and could be responsible for the reports of hunger we get from
various communities when government maintains we still have maize stocks,"
queried Nandolo.
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