April 20th, 2013

Malawi expects its maize surplus to increase by nearly 50 percent this season, the minister of agriculture said on Tuesday, a rare economic bright spot for the impoverished southern African nation. A seed and fertiliser subsidy programme in recent years helped Malawi feed itself. However the programme later collapsed because of corruption and after dry spells hit the maize belt. Finance Minister Ken Lipenga told Reuters last week he was banking on a strong harvest to help stem runaway inflation which stood at 37.9 percent in February. Maize is the main driver of inflation in the consumer price index, accounting for about…