The International Food Policy Research Institute has revealed findings that Malawi has a widespread lack of maize grading standards and common weights measures that characterise the country’s maize marketing compared to other countries in sub-Subsaharan hence, it does not fetch desired revenue on the market.

The report states that Malawi had the highest level of price volatility in comparison to other regional countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa. “About 61% of traders perceived that prices were most volatile during main harvest seasons.” says the report in part.

The report also found that the local maize market is not transparent enough to facilitate traders’ planning, which would likely help stabilise both volumes and prices, which means that prices in different markets do not follow the same patterns, which suggests poor integration between markets in different locations both within and between regions.