By Cathy Maulidi:
The Agriculture Committee of Parliament has expressed concern over the Ministry of Agriculture’s purported delays to release a maize outlook report for the 2024-25 farming season.
It has since implored the ministry to release the estimates quickly so that the country can start planning for the future.
Committee chairperson Sameer Suleman said this Tuesday, when he said Malawi should have learned from the experience of the 2024-25 hunger crisis to avoid a recurrence of bad experiences.
“We need to prioritise food security. Given the current situation, the outlook is not promising. Fields have been affected by several factors this season: the Affordable Inputs Programme has been ineffective, natural disasters such as dry spells impacted the Southern and other regions in the early days of the season, and seeds were in short supply early in the rainy season.
“All of these factors will likely lead to renewed hunger. I thought the government understood the importance of timely crop estimates for planning purposes. I urge the ministry to act fast on the issue. We need those figures,” Suleman said.
Responding to the issue, Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale did not specify a release date but was quick to say the estimates would be released soon.
“The first exercise, an assessment of estimated land use per crop, has been completed. We will conduct a second assessment, focusing on crop estimates, shortly. These figures will provide a close approximation of accurate crop yield estimates, which we will then release.
“Last year, many people were confused when we released land use estimates, mistaking them for crop yield estimates. We want to avoid similar confusion this year,” Kawale said.
Malawi’s maize situation is currently precarious, with maize prices reaching approximately K100,000 per 50 kilogramme bag.
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