Maize purchases to counter shortfall

Concerns that a recent drop in Malawi's national maize stocks could lead to a food crisis were "unfounded" as the government had made plans to replenish its Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR), a senior Malawian official said on Tuesday. On Monday the Famine Early Warning Network (FEWS NET) reported that maize stocks had dropped by around 70 percent since last month, leaving only about 22,000 mt in the government's silos. "Actions must be taken now to replenish the SGR in order to prevent price hikes, which could result in a food crisis as bad as that of 2001/02, or even worse," FEWS NET said. General Manager of the National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA), Patric Makina, told IRIN the shortfall was partly caused by the release of maize from the SGR to humanitarian agencies for their aid operations. In March the NFRA released about 17,000 mt of maize to the World Food Programme for food aid programmes. It also made around 30,000 mt of maize available to the parastatal Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC) for sale at a subsidised price to the general public. According to Makina, "Right now the NFRA has issued a tender to purchase about 28,000 mt maize, and we are confident that we will find that in local markets. There are also plans to purchase the remaining 32,000 mt ... to complete the amount of maize needed [60,000 mt], from neighbouring countries such as Zambia and South Africa." Dr Harry Potter, livelihoods adviser to the UK's Department for International Development, told IRIN that "adequate mechanisms were in place to ensure that the 2001/2002 food crisis would not be repeated". "The strategic grain reserves acts as a revolving account which means that the amount of maize at any given time can either go up or down. The national stocks are there for emergencies and should be used accordingly. So its quite normal right now that the amount [of maize in the SGR] does not reflect the 60,000 mt needed," he said In 2002 almost 3.2 million Malawians faced acute food shortages. Although observers blamed the food crisis on two years of severe drought, the government also came under fire for selling off most of NFRA's emergency stock to finance its external debt. The shortage of maize caused domestic prices to more than quadruple, leaving ordinary Malawians unable to afford their staple food. According to the FEWS NET report, current maize prices continue to rise in many parts of the country, especially the southern region, which experienced a poor harvest. "Two markets in the Lower Shire Valley, Nsanje and Chikwawa Districts, have recorded some of the highest local market prices of the year due to low winter maize production, which contributes over 30 percent of the area's total maize production. These high prices are especially unusual, because these two districts normally experience some of the lowest local market prices in the country at this time of the year, due to augmented supplies from the winter maize crop and inflows from Mozambique," the early warning network noted. Makina noted that the national statistical office was expected to release its second round crop estimates later this week. These estimates, together with the recent vulnerability assessment committee findings, would provide "a clearer picture of how many people would need aid". According to FEWS NET, preliminary findings indicate that the southern region is the worst affected area and the likelihood of households requiring external assistance was high.