Zambia maize eases southern Africa supply crunch

South Africa is now importing maize to make up for deficits due to export commitments, while Malawi, which recorded a series of bumper crops helped by subsidies, has suspended exports because of reported shortages.

At the same time Zambia, which is exporting to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Botswana, Burundi and Namibia, feels it has enough stocks. Zambia harvested three million tonnes of maize in the 2010/11 season. The country's big yields have been attributed to government subsidies - in the form of fertiliser and seeds - to peasant farmers. Zambia's agriculture minister Emmanuel Chenda told Reuters that Zambia has decided to export 600,000 tonnes out more of one million tonnes of surplus maize, mainly "because we didn't have storage space and so far we have sold 200,000 tonnes," he said.

But Brian Tembo, an Economics Association of Zambia analyst, said the government was buying the maize from farmers at above market prices and selling it at reduced prices. He said this meant the government was effectively using "Treasury funds to subsidise the region." Another worrying aspect is that the crop ultimately depends on rain and - the agriculture minister said - the 2011/12 season had gotten off to a bad start because of erratic weather. "We are monitoring the situation very carefully to ensure that we don't end up importing maize. I think we are standing on very firm ground in terms of food security," he concluded.

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