Farmers frown at maize prices

Farmers Union of Malawi (FUM) has frowned at the 2025/26 minimum farm gate maize prices which show a decline from K1 050 per kilogramme (kg) last year to K900, describing it as a raw deal. FUM president Manes Nkhata, in an interview yesterday after Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development released the recommended prices, said while her association is involved in setting minimum prices and was satisfied with prices for the other crops, the maize prices are on the lower side. She said FUM had proposed K1 200 per kg which would translate to K60 000 per 50kg bag.

“The set maize farm gate price has the potential to discourage farmers from maize farming which in the end would reduce the country’s maize production,” said Nkhata. Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development yesterday released the 2025/26 farm gate prices for various crops, including maize whose price translates to K45 000 per 50kg bag. The ministry’s Principal Secretary Erica Maganga said the prices were with immediate effect.

“All agro-dealers, agro-processors, and others who deal in these commodities are requested not to buy the stated crop commodities at prices lower than those stipulated,” the statement reads in part. Prior to the announcement of the farm gate prices, farmers in some parts of the country were selling maize at as low as K20 000 per 50kg against a backdrop of rising cost of production inputs, including fertiliser now fetching about K180 000 per 50kg from around K130 000 early last year. Farm gate prices are traditionally released before harvest to guide transactions and protect farmers, but this year the delay created uncertainty across markets.

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In the 2024/25 agriculture season, the prices were announced on April 7 amid pressure from agricultural stakeholders who also argued that they had come after some farmers have already been given raw deals by unscrupulous vendors. Speaking in Parliament in Lilongwe last Tuesday, Leader of Opposition in Parliament Simplex Chithyola Banda warned that farmers risk exploitation due to government’s delays to announce farmgate prices at the height of the harvest season. In response, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Roza Mbilizi said the prices were set for release before the end of last week.

Commenting on the new prices, agriculture expert Tamani Nkhono- Mvula and Mwapata Institute research fellow Christone Nyondo warned in separate interviews yesterday that the new maize price discourages commercial maize production because it does not reflect the cost of production. Nkhono-Mvula said the costs of fertiliser, transportation, labour, seeds and other inputs have increased over the past year; therefore, the minimum price should reflect that.

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