Malawi hauls 51 000MT maize from Zambia

Malawi has to date hauled 51 000 metric tonnes (MT) of maize imported from Zambia out of 200 000MT meant to fill a food deficit gap. In a written response yesterday, National Food Reserve Agency (NFRA) senior marketing and corporate affairs officer Arthur Mpakeni said all factors being equal, they expect the remaining consignment to arrive before end of March. He said : “So far , approximately 51 000 MT have been hauled into the country.

As we speak more than 15 trucks are already on our gates and other trucks on the way. “If all goes as planned and no unforeseen disturbances all should be in the country by 31 March 2026.” But Transporters Association of Malawi director and spokesperson Frank Banda said they expect to haul all the maize, by at least April, not March. The maize is meant to support over four million people affected by hunger during the lean period which ends in March.

Last month, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development Roza Mbilizi and her Zambian counterpart Reuben Mtolo witnessed the dispatch of the first consignment of the maize at Chipata in Zambia, with expectations that all the maize would be in Malawi before March. Since the maize is meant to help households in need of food support, Department of Disaster Management Affairs spokesperson Chipiliro Khamula said there is still a deficit of K59 billion in both cash and kind out of the K209.4 billion budget for the 2025/26 Lean Season Food Insecurity Response Programme operations. The Malawi Vulnerabi l i ty Assessment Committee 2025 report projected that over four million Malawians were at risk of severe food insecurity during the 2025-26 lean season from October 2025 to March 2026.

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In June last year, the World Food Programme projected Malawi’s maize deficit at 1.2 million MT or 33 percent of harvest. The national annual maize requirement is 3.7 million MT. Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development had earlier projected a maize deficit of 537 380MT in the 2024/25 growing season with Parliament approving K99.5 billion in the 2025/26 National Budget towards irrigation development to produce 337 000MT of maize on 56 113 hectares of irrigable land, which is still below the projected deficit. However, the ministry’s strategy to bank on irrigation to cover the maize deficit and stabilise prices drew criticism, with agriculture policy experts casting doubt on its practicality.

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