Malawi: ‘No Malawian Should Die of Hunger’ As Maize Prices Collapse After State Intervention
Food security occupied a central place in President Peter Mutharika’s SONA address today, reflecting both the political sensitivity of hunger and the economic vulnerability of a country where over 80 percent of the population depends on rain-fed agriculture.
In his address, Mutharika said maize prices falling from around K100,000 per 50 kilogram bag to between K38,000 and K55,000 was not a coincidence but the direct result of deliberate state intervention.
According to the President, government intensified maize imports, restocked ADMARC markets nationwide and distributed free maize to vulnerable households during the lean season. He said more than one million families benefited from emergency food assistance, preventing what could have become a national humanitarian disaster.
He also said fertilizer distribution had reached 65 percent of the targeted 1.1 million beneficiaries, arguing that improved access to inputs was essential for breaking the cycle of dependency and low productivity that has defined Malawian agriculture for decades.
On tobacco, Malawi’s main export crop, Mutharika revealed that government intervened to sell 3.5 million kilograms of unsold leaf, generating US$8.6 million that would otherwise have been lost. He said the intervention rescued thousands of farmers from financial ruin and stabilised foreign exchange inflows.
The President declared that Malawi’s long-term goal was to become a net food exporter, supplying regional markets while maintaining national reserves. He described hunger not as a natural disaster but as a failure of political planning, insisting that “no Malawian should die of hunger in a country with fertile land and hardworking farmers”.
By Nyasa Times.
