Police in Kasungu District have arrested 11 people for allegedly buying farm produce from farmers at prices lower than the government set prices and using uncertified scales.

In an interview on Tuesday, Kasungu Police Station spokesperson Joseph Kachikho said the suspects were arrested from April 5 2023 within Kasungu Boma and other surrounding places.

“We have opened a case against them for defying government’s order on minimum prices of farm produce and they will appear in court to answer their charges,” he said.

Kachikho said the police have also confiscated 20 digital scales the suspects were using when buying the farm produce.

An artist’s impression of the arrest

Asked whether similar arrests have been made in other parts of the country, National Police spokesperson Peter Kalaya said a national picture of the malpractice will be known towards the end of this month.

Last week, government released the 2023 season farm gate prices with the minimum price for Malawi’s staple commodity maize set at K500 per kilogramme (kg), K220 up from the 2022 price.

Soya is now selling at K800 per kg from K480 per kg in 2022 while the minimum price for polished rice is K1 000 per kg and unpolished rice is fetching a minimum of K500 per kg.

The minimum price of sorghum has been set at K400 per kg, finger millet is at K550 per kg, pure beans is selling at K700 per kg, mixed beans is at K600 per kg and white beans have been pegged at K650 per kg.

When government released the farm gate prices a week ago, Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale said the prices were set to protect farmers from exploitative vendors who offer low prices to farmers.

The post 11 in for violating farm-gate prices first appeared on The Nation Online.