Zambia begins exporting maize to Zimbabwe

The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) says it has bought over 370,000 tonnes of maize for national strategic reserve purposes out of the 500,000 tonnes target for this year.

FRA executive director Chola Kafwabulula said from the 150,000 tonnes consignment to Zimbabwe, at least 8,450 metric tonnes had left the country so far.

“Another shipment from the 150,000 metric tonnes will be leaving tomorrow today,” Mr Kafwabulula said in an interview.

The sale was aimed at helping Zimbabwe, once southern Africa’s breadbasket, but now critically short of food, including maize, the national staple.

The World Food Programme last week indicated that more than 2 million Zimbabweans were likely to need food aid by the start of next year. The 2.2 million Zimbabweans needing food relief was the highest number since 2008-09, when an economic crisis ravaged the country, according to the WFP.

Zimbabwe has experienced several unproductive agricultural seasons since its controversial land reforms of 2000, which led to a slide in agricultural output.

That coupled with poor weather, many farmers have also had to move into cultivating other cash crops such as tobacco and cotton, leaving a bigger number of Zimbabweans vulnerable to food insecurity.

The government has had to rely on food imports, mostly from Zambia and South Africa, to supplement its increasingly meagre maize and cereal output.

Zambia’s maize output this year fell 11 per cent to 2.5 million tonnes from 2.85 million tonnes in the previous season after poor weather and a worm infestation impacted on yields.

The FRA, which manages the National Food Security Reserve, purchases grain at the start of the season for release at market value if the private sector is unable to meet demand.

“The grain marketing season this year has been slow compared to last year but we have managed to buy about 370,048 tonnes,” Mr Kafwabulula said, adding that he was optimistic the 500,000 tonnes target would be met.

FRA has had to close some of its satellite depots because of poor maize supply.

The Citizen