MALAWI: Maize prices still rising

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 7 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - Scarcity of maize coupled with an escalating demand have brought skyrocketing prices to Malawi's two cities, Lilongwe and Blantyre, according to a new consumer survey.

The situation is expected to improve in April when the first of the winter crops comes onto the market, said Joseph Kuppens, director of the faith-based NGO, Centre For Social Concern (CFSC), which conducted the survey.

Good rain and a successful government-sponsored fertiliser programme have given drought-hit Malawians the hope that a bumper maize crop of more than two million mt will be harvested, observed a recent UN Food and Agricultural Organisation update.

The CFSC survey found that the monthly cost of living, including some non-food items, for a family of six in Lilongwe had shot up from $144 in November 2005 to US $185 in January 2006. A year earlier, in January 2005, the same basic needs had cost about $115. "The prices are much higher this year, as more people are in need ... the demand is higher," explained Kuppens.

Malawi's annual maize requirement is just under two million mt but last year the country experienced one of its worst droughts in a decade and struggled to produce just 1.3 million mt. There is little or no maize to be had from the state grain marketer, ADMARC. "The outlets have continued to ration maize, which has also made it very difficult for people," Kuppens commented.

The cost of a basket of essential food items in January this year was about $120 - beyond the reach of a clerical officer earning little more than $40 a month or even a teacher getting between $94 and $173 a month, CFSC pointed out.

At the beginning of the lean season in December, the cost of maize was 30 to 40 kwacha (24 to 32 US cents) per kg. "It is now selling at an average of 50 kwacha (38 US cents) per kg in Lilongwe, which is unaffordable for most people, who have to depend on the government's free food distribution programme," said Kuppens.

The UN's World Food Programme estimates that up to five million Malawians will need food aid until April. "We have received reports that southern Malawi has already begun harvesting some of their crop, so the situation might improve sooner," noted Kuppens.

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