Newly inaugurated Professor Joseph Dzanja of the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) has called for an urgent overhaul of Malawi's agricultural marketing systems, declaring the sector "broken" during his inaugural professorial lecture, according to Nyasa Times. Speaking at the Bunda Campus, Dzanja challenged policymakers and researchers to shift their focus from merely boosting crop production to fixing the supply chains that connect farmers with consumers and processors.
Dzanja outlined a five-point diagnosis of the country's agricultural market fragmentation, categorising the challenges into information, coordination, space, time, and power. He noted that farmers suffer from a lack of reliable market data and collective coordination, which weakens their bargaining power, Nyasa Times reports. Furthermore, a severe geographic disconnect between rural farmers and major markets, compounded by seasonal price volatility and post-harvest losses, continues to leave smallholder farmers at a disadvantage.
LUANAR Vice-Chancellor Professor Emmanuel Kaunda praised Dzanja's academic work. According to Nyasa Times, Kaunda noted that Dzanja's professional impact in agricultural markets and rural development has shaped the university's research and engagement with the agricultural sector.
Update: These structural market issues align with recent warnings from Minister of Agriculture Roza Mbilizi at the 22nd National Agriculture Fair. As reported by Nyasa Times, Mbilizi urged the country to shift from simply producing more crops to "producing smarter" after new data revealed severe export declines, a continued heavy reliance on tobacco, and national maize yields of just 2.1 metric tonnes per hectare against a national target of four metric tonnes.