Lilongwe, Malawi.
Authorities in Malawi have just issues an advisory preventing Tanzanian farm produce dealers against importing maize consignments from there.
The country is also banning its farmers from ferrying the food harvests across the border for sale.
The Tanzanian High Commissioner to Malawi, Ambassador Humphrey Polepole is stating here that Malawi has stopped exports of maize and other food produce from the country with immediate effect.
It seems Lilongwe anticipates grain shortages in Malawi this year and therefore is taking early precautions.
In efforts to intercept any looming food shortages in the country, Malawi is thus holding tightly onto all the harvests that the country has in its silos, pending further developments in the sector.
“I implore all traders from Tanzania with plans to come and procure grain harvets in Malawi to find other alternatives until when authorities here issue other directives to that effect,” Ambassador Polepole maintains.
Southern African countries, including Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa may experience shortages of grain due to poor harvests this season.
South African farmers for instance, are expected to harvest nearly 10 percent less maize in the 2021/2022 season compared with the previous season.
That’s according to the SA government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC). South Africa is the leading grain producer on the African Continent.
Hunger Games?
Kenya is also facing acute grain shortage, causing the country to hike the price of maize flour. The price of a bag of maize weighing 90 Kilos has jumped from KSh 5,200 to KSh 6,500 as of now.
But despite the shortages, Kenyan authorities recently blocked from entry consignments of maize from Tanzania that were destined to the country.
Reasons given include the grain quality concerns. The trucks carrying maize from Tanzania were held at the borders even as Kenya grapples with dwindling grain stocks.