ZAMBIA – The Food Reserve Agency (FRA) in Zambia has successfully imported 10,000 tonnes of maize from Tanzania, part of a broader effort to mitigate the impact of drought on national food security.
The move follows an agreement between Zambia and Tanzania earlier this year to purchase 650,000 metric tonnes of maize.
Suresh Desai, FRA Board Chairperson, confirmed that the importation process is gaining momentum, with maize stocks arriving by both road and rail.
According to Desai, the agency is on track to secure an additional 20,000 tonnes in the coming months to bolster the country’s maize reserves.
Speaking in Monze, where he is monitoring the FRA’s ongoing community maize sales initiative, Desai noted that the agency’s proactive measures would help stabilize food supply and prices, preventing potential food insecurity.
Like many other countries in Southern Africa, Zambia has experienced prolonged periods of drought over the past few seasons, which has severely affected crop yields.
The nation’s dependency on rain-fed agriculture has made its food security vulnerable to changing climatic conditions, with maize, the staple crop, taking the hardest hit.
Recently, Agricultural experts called on the Zambian government to reconsider its long-standing opposition to genetically modified (GMO) maize in light of the country’s severe maize production shortfall.
The nation’s maize harvest plummeted by over 50% during the 2023/2024 season, resulting in an estimated output of just 1.6 million tonnes, a significant drop from previous years.
According to the experts, with domestic maize needs exceeding 2.6 million tonnes annually, Zambia now faces the daunting task of importing around one million tonnes to bridge the gap.
However, the challenge lies in the government’s insistence on sourcing only non-GMO maize, which remains a scarce commodity in the global market.
Given the current circumstances, experts argue that Zambia should reconsider its stance on GMO maize.
One proposed solution is to allow the importation of GMO maize directly to millers, bypassing concerns about the grain reaching farmers.
In the medium term, experts suggest that Zambia, along with other countries in the Southern African region, should review their GMO policies more comprehensively.
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