A study by the African Institute for Corporate Citizenship (AICC) The prolonged delay to open the Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) for buying season, has deprived farmers of benefiting profits of up to K80million.

On the other hand, figures from the National Statistical Office (NSO) Stats Flash shows that inflation rate increased from 9% to 9.3%. Food inflation, on the other hand, rose by 0.5 percentage points to 14.2% while non-food inflation rose by 0.1 percentage points to 5.5%. Maize prices on the produce market have also been rising, with a bag of 50 kilogram (kg) fetching K13 000 or K260 per kg in some markets.

On the brighter side, government sent a directive to the Admarc to raise the price of buying maize from K150 per kilogram (kg) to between K180 and K200/kg. Agriculture Minister, Kondwani Nankhumwa announced the news, adding that National Food Reserve Agency has been directed to start buying maize at the same price of around K200 per kg. “By so doing, shortly we are going to flood the country with maize, so that we stabilise maize prices in the country” said Nankhumwa. Unfortunately Admarc has opened after most farmers desperately sold their harvest to vendors, at lower prices.