By Isaac Salima:
About $5 million (about K8.8 billion) is needed to repair silos at the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA)’s Kanengo Depot in Lilongwe.
The silos have tilted, such that 12 silos at the strategic grain reserves are not in use at the moment—having developed the problem.
According to NFRA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) George Macheka, the development has left the agency with 36 silos—which are in use out of the 48 that are at the depot.
However, the government could be forced to cough about K8.8 billion to repair the silos if NFRA will not be able to find partners to support them.
“Our engineers are attributing the problem to underground water while others are saying it is the nature of the foundation which has caused this. But what we have done is that, with funding from the World Food Programme (WFP), we sent some of our members of staff to South Africa to learn from some companies which faced similar challenges and how they addressed them,” Macheka said.
The CEO, who was speaking in ‘Times Exclusive’ on Times Television, said WFP has funded them to engage some officials from South Africa to come as consultants and make recommendations on what to do with the silos.
“We expect them [to be] in the country by next month so that they tell us what to do. It is marginal tilting but we just decided to stop using them until we get advice from the experts,” he said.
Macheka said repair works are estimated at $5 million.
“With the shortfall of the silos, it means that we, as a country, do not have adequate silos to store our maize. If we were to get a lot of money for maize purchase, we will still be limited by the storage capacity. Our call is to the cooperating partners to come in and assist us to see how best these silos are put back to life.
“However, we will get the picture on how much we need for repair works in a month or so when the consultant comes but, certainly, we should be looking for something around $5 million or plus,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale was not readily available to comment on the matter.
But commentator on agriculture Leonard Chimwaza said officials should be proactive in ensuring that such facilities are always in good condition.
“From the look of things, we were supposed to be vigilant in maintaining these silos because issues of food security are supposed to be taken on board without excuses. Now it is worrisome because the money that is supposed to go towards repairing the silos was not budgeted for. This is because the issue was not noticed as early as possible,” Chimwaza said.
NFRA has silos in Lilongwe, Mzuzu, Mangochi and Luchenza and warehouses at Limbe, Blantyre and Bangula in Nsanje.
The country is, this year, grappling with the problem of food insecurity due a dry spell and heavy flooding registered in the rainy period.
Macheka said currently they have 15,000 metric tonnes (mt) of maize in their reserves and that they expect to purchase 82,000mt more.
“We expect to buy in phases. Parliament allocated K12 billion for the maize purchase. But after the President [Lazarus Chakwera] declared a state of disaster, they have added K10 billion. We have also gotten $15 million (about K26 billion) from World Bank for maize procurement,” he said.
Chakwera declared that the country is in a state of disaster in April this year and called for support from partners.
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