Zomba Agriculture Development Division (ZADD) has warned farmers in the district against selling their maize amid fears of the looming hunger.

ZADD Crops Officer, Josiah Ngochera, said despite the district registering low harvests this year due to Fall army worms and dry spell, small holder farmers are trading their maize a development which will likely fuel hunger in the district.

Ngochera said: “Due to the disaster the crops in most parts of the district were destroyed leaving the famers desperate, however, we have learnt with great concern that some of them, are selling their maize without considering the impending hunger which has shaken the district.”

He added that in some areas a bag of 50kg is being sold at a price as low as K1, 500.

He also warned the farmers against being coaxed by the venders who are flooding the villages with materials such as clothes and plastic materials such as plates, cups and basins to trade them with maize.

A survey by YFM online found that in some markets in the city of Zomba vendors are selling a 50kg maize bag at a price ranging from K4, 000 to K6, 000.

On the other hand Ngochera has advised the farmers to take advantage of the rains being received in some parts of the district, to plant crops such as sweet potatoes to add on their produce.

In January, the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development revealed that the dry spell alone had destroyed crops of more than 850,000 households in the country, translating into 3.8 million people in dire straits.

And in December last year the situation forced President Peter Mutharika to declared the country a national disaster.