Malawi maize output falls 5.6% in latest farming season
Malawi’s output of maize, its staple grain, fell 5.6% in the 2022/23 farming season because of a shortage of fertiliser and extreme weather conditions that damaged crops, its agriculture ministry said.
Output fell to roughly 3.51 million tonnes in 2022/23, down from 3.72 million tonnes the season before, the ministry said in its final crop estimate report.
In March, one of the deadliest storms to hit Africa in the last two decades swept through southern Malawi, killing more than 1,000 people, washing away homes and roads and destroying crops.
“Maize production has declined this year due to the combined effects of reduced inputs (fertiliser) uptake and use … coupled by unfavourable weather conditions of floods, mainly in the southern region, and dry spells, specifically in the northern region,” said Dickxie Kampani, principal secretary in the agriculture ministry.
Output was still above the donor-dependent Southern African country’s national requirement of about 3.1 million tonnes.
Separately, Malawi has lifted a ban on maize imports, according to a letter signed by principal secretary in the trade ministry Christina Zakeyo and seen by Reuters.
Imports could help cool sharply rising prices, with maize now selling at 1,000 Malawian kwacha ($0.9588) per kilogram, double the official farmgate price of 500 kwacha.
Food items have the greatest weight in Malawi’s Consumer Price Index basket.
The central bank cited intensifying price pressures including from food among reasons for its decision this week to raise its policy rate by 200 basis points to 24.0%.
($1 = 1,043.0000 kwacha)
(Reporting by Frank Phiri Editing by Alexander Winning and Philippa Fletcher)
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