Admarc fails to meet farm produce purchase target

Admarc Limited says inadequate funding, price volatility and stiff competition from private traders limited its capacity to buy farm produce during the 2024/25 harvesting season. Making a presentation to Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture which was touring Admarc head office in Blantyre yesterday, Admarc marketing manager Agnes Chikoko Ndovi said Admarc managed to buy 16 441 metric tonnes (MT) of maize against a target of 20 000MT, 1 148MT of cotton against a target of 10 000MT and 777MT of rice against a targeted 6 100MT. She said purchases of legumes and oil crops were equally affected, with the company buying 2 308MT of beans against a target of 5 000MT, 1 457MT of pigeon peas out of 6 000MT and only 88MT of soya against a target of 12 000MT.

“Admarc did not buy any groundnuts despite targeting 6 100MT. this is mainly due to inadequate funding, low crop production, price fluctuation and higher prices offered by our competitors,” said Ndovi. She said the situation reduced Admarc’s ability to compete with private buyers who offered higher farm-gate prices, leaving the company unable to absorb produce from farmers at the desired scale.

In an interview after the meeting, committee chairperson Anthony Kamoto noted that Admarc has extensive infrastructure and processing facilities which, if fully utilised, could significantly enhance value addition and improve the company’s revenue generation. He cited ginneries in Karonga, Balaka and Chikwawa, a dhil factory in Luchenza in Thyolo and rice milling plants as key assets that have remained underutilised for years. Kamoto said Admarc remains strategically positioned to support national food security and economic growth if operational and financial challenges are addressed.

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The committee also asked Admarc to submit within seven days a detailed report on the withdrawal of rotten maize flour from the market, an incident that raised public concern in December last year. Admarc chief executive officer Ben Botolo said the report would be submitted by Tuesday next week, adding that the findings point to weaknesses in the outsourcing of milling services. He said: “The maize flour was milled by a company that is also a competitor in the same market, which presented a high risk.

There were also planning gaps, including milling large quantities without a proper distribution plan.” In December last year, Admarc withdrew about 45MT of maize flour valued at approximately K100 million after the products were found to be rotten. On Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Thoko Tembo described Admarc as a critical institution for economic growth, saying the company has the infrastructure and capacity to be transformed into a competitive public export enterprise capable of generating foreign exchange. Admarc has been struggling financially and has over the years failed to serve Malawians as per its mandate of produce stabiliser, ready market for farmers and a social function of the government’s food security apparatus

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