Zambia, grappling with a deficit exacerbated by the ongoing drought in Southern Africa, is seeking to procure at least 500,000 tonnes of maize from Uganda.

Similarly, Kenya’s William Ruto has pledged maize to Zimbabwe to alleviate the hunger crisis in Harare. During a recent official visit to Zimbabwe, President Ruto committed to donating $1 million worth of maize to supplement the government’s drought relief efforts.

Zambia is contending with famine due to a prolonged dry spell that has severely affected maize production in 84 out of its 116 districts.

According to Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, there is an agreement to supply up to 500,000 tonnes of maize to Zambia.

“The Ugandan government has received an expression of interest for up to 500,000 tonnes of maize grain to be exported to Zambia,” an official stated.

The move could strain supplies to Kenya and increase the cost of staple given the fact that the country relies on cross border imports to cover for its local deficit.

Zambia’s vulnerability assessment report for 2023 projected that over two million people will face food insecurity from October 2023 to March 2024.

Kenya has historically relied on Zambia and Zimbabwe to fill local maize deficits, as these countries have been major producers of surplus stocks.

While Zambia is the second-largest maize producer in Southern Africa after South Africa, the El Niño-related phenomenon has led to drought conditions, prompting Lusaka to declare a national disaster.

Source: Business Day

The post Zimbabwe, Zambia Turn to East Africa for Maize Support first appeared on Commodity Insight Africa.

The Zimbabwean government forecasts staple maize production will drop 72% in the 2023/24 season, worsening the country’s food situation due to an El Nino induced drought.

The forecast is according to the Government’s Second Round of Crops, Livestock and Fisheries Assessment report released on May, 8.

The report estimates maize production at 634,699 tonnes for the season ending 31 May 2024 from 2,298,281 produced in the previous season, a 72% decrease.

This comes as Zimbabwe is grappling with a shortfall of 1,108,425 tons of grain, with 7.7 million people in the country in dire need of food aid.

The region is reeling from its worst drought in 40 years, owing to a combination of the naturally occurring El Nino and higher average temperatures produced by greenhouse gas emissions.

Recently, the nation declared the ravaging drought a national disaster, after Zambia and Malawi made similar pronouncements.

Zimbabwe needs 2.2 million tons of cereal annually for both human and livestock consumption

To cover the deficit, Zimbabwe’s government plans to import grain, with its private millers looking to source 1.4-million MT of white and yellow maize in the next two months from Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Argentina and America.

In addition, the country has appealed for US$2bn (R37bn) from humanitarian agencies and well-wishers to feed millions.

Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has said the government would reallocate some budgeted funds from other portfolios to fund grain importation.

Meanwhile, government of Zimbabwe has released the Winter Cereal Production Plan as part of El Niño-induced drought mitigation efforts.

According to the plan, contractors are expected to plant 123 500 hectares for an estimated yield of 624 000 metric tonnes of wheat, while the targeted area for planting barley is 7 000 hectares.

Maize/sorghum is expected to cover 3,250 hectares, and potato planting is expected in warmer areas in August.

In addition, the government has announced a 31 percent reduction in water charges for irrigation farmers as part of the strategies to ensure a successful winter wheat season.

The post Zimbabwe’s maize output plunges 72% due to El Nino-induced shocks first appeared on Commodity Insight Africa.

Kenya has announced plans to export its maize to Zambia as the drought-stricken country grapples with maize shortage.

Speaking during the Africa Fertiliser and Soil Health Summit held in Nairobi, President William Ruto revealed the move to export maize to Zambia was triggered following a bumper harvest by Kenyan farmers.

While making the announcement, Ruto also urged the African Heads of State to leverage the African Free Trade Area to allow free trade within the continent.

“That is why it is important to leverage on the Pan African initiative and integration to provide the basis to harness research and technology to develop a robust soil formation system,” Ruto stated. 

According to Ruto, the government would only deviate from its ban on maize imports only if the local produce would be insufficient.

Zambia scraps tax on maize imports

Meanwhile, the Zambian cabinet has approved the suspension of tax on all imported maize to address shortage caused by drought, Chief Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said on Wednesday.

Zambia has been suffering from severe drought due to the El Nino phenomenon, which is worsening harsh weather conditions attributed in part to climate change.

In February, President Hakainde Hichilema declared the drought a national disaster highlighting that it has adversely impacted the food production in 84 out of the country’s 116 districts, destroying about 1 million hectares of the 2.2 million hectares planted with the staple maize crop.

While the government will be at the centre of importing maize for strategic reserves, the private sector is also encouraged to seize the opportunity and engage in maize imports, Mweetwa said.

Mweetwa, who is also minister of information and media, said the cabinet has instructed the Agriculture Ministry to start issuing permits to Zambians for maize imports.

The decision comes after Zambia’s disaster response agency, recently reported that the country needs about 738,000 metric tonnes of maize to provide for people adversely affected by drought for their food requirements for 14 months.

Gabriel Pollen, national coordinator for the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit, said the maize is required in the immediate response to provide relief food to about 6.6 million people in 84 of the country’s 116 districts adversely affected by the drought.

The post Kenya to export maize to Zambia as drought-hit nation lifts import tax first appeared on Commodity Insight Africa.

The decline in stocks was led by major exporters, whose supply levels are particularly important in setting world prices.

Chicago wheat futures for July-24, which had strengthened ahead of the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) monthly Wasde briefing, on worries for damage to Russia’s winter crop from dryness and cold, edged higher in the aftermath to trade up 3.6%.

Paris milling wheat for September-24 stood up 2.3% in late deals, back above €250/t for the first time in nine months.

Best-traded London feed wheat for November-24 gained 1.2% to settle at £218.60/t, its best finish in 14 months.

USDA
The USDA’s May Wasde report is viewed as particularly important by the market, in issuing first full world crop supply and demand forecasts for the next season, in this case 2024/25.

The USDA forecast US wheat stocks expanding less significantly than the market had anticipated in 2024/25, to 20.9 million t, on a modestly lower-than-expected harvest estimate of 50.6 million t, up by only 1.3 million t year on year.

Inventories in most other major exporters, including those in the EU, Russia and Ukraine, are expected to shrink next season, on production decline.

Russia’s harvest was forecast shrinking by 3.5 million t year on year to 88 million t. Separately, SovEcon also cut its Russia wheat production estimate for 2024/25, to 89.6 million t, a dip of 3.2 million t year on year on its estimates.

EU all-wheat production was seen declining by 2.2 million t to 132 million t.

The estimates fed through into a forecast for world wheat stocks of 253.6 million t at the close of next season, shrinking by 4.2 million t year on year to the lowest since 2015/16. The figure was 2.8 million t below that traders had anticipated.

Wheat stocks held by the top seven exporters were seen closing next season at their smallest in 12 years, and the tightest in even longer period, when compared with world consumption.

The UK’s wheat harvest-24 was pegged at 11.2 million t, down by 2.8 million t from 2023, and fostering growth in 2024/25 imports to an expected 3 million t, from the 2.6 million t factored in for the season.

Source: Dry Bulk

The post Russian weather lifts wheat prices first appeared on Commodity Insight Africa.

Alongside the loss of life, the agricultural devastation is immense and has significant nutritional implications. In Kenya alone, at least 9,973 livestock have been lost and 41,562 acres of cropland, including crucial staple foods like maize, have been swept away, with rice fields submerged, according to authorities.

Moreover, more than 60 roads, many of which connect farmers to fresh produce markets on a daily basis, have been damaged and rendered impassable, according to records from the National Disaster Operations Centre (NDOC) and Kenya Red Cross Society.

The contamination of 1,465 clean water sources, such as ponds, rivers, and streams, which serve as vital sources of aquatic foods, exacerbates the situation. In some instances, these water sources have become breeding grounds for deadly diseases like malaria, further complicating the already dire circumstances.

The World Food Programme and other global humanitarian agencies engaged in responding to the flooding crisis across East Africa — where over 26 million vulnerable people were already facing hunger before the flooding crisis — have expressed concerns about disrupted food production.

Kenyan farmers count their losses
According to humanitarian aid organisation Action Against Hunger, damaged infrastructure and collapsed supply chains will inevitably lead to a food shortage crisis, putting vulnerable populations at risk of hunger and malnutrition.

“Torrential downpours have submerged over 41,000 acres of croplands and thousands of livestock have died or been lost amidst the deluge. In a country where two-thirds of people live in poverty and many depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, a hunger crisis may be imminent,” the organisation said in a statement.

In parts of Central Kenya and the Rift Valley region — the country’s reliable food baskets — farmers have been asked to permit response and rescue teams to create large water diversions or channels on their farms leading to nearby streams.

“I am a rice farmer. Nearly six acres of the crop have been destroyed, amounting to almost Ksh 1 million ($7,633). I don’t know where to begin. The entire field is submerged in floodwater, and the crop is now rotting away,” James Odero, a farmer in Kenya’s Busia County, told local media.

Odero’s sentiments echo those of thousands of other distressed farmers across the country. Speaking to the media, Felix Mutua, a farmer from Eastern Kenya, appealed to the government to compensate those who have lost their crops to aid in their recovery.

“The best thing the government can do for farmers like myself, who have lost over Ksh 2 million ($15,296) worth of investment, is to provide us with free seeds and fertilisers. We are also incurring losses in the dairy sector. Milk aggregators cannot reach us to collect the commodity due to destroyed roads,” said Mutua, adding that some smallholder farmers are stuck with rotting fresh produce like cabbages, tomatoes, and carrots as roads to markets have been severed.

In addition to agricultural losses worth millions of shillings, Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture revealed that state corporation Kenya Seed Company has also lost over 2,000 acres of seed under propagation.

“Agriculture has suffered greatly due to the flood wrath caused by climate change. Everyone has witnessed the ravages of floods,” said Paul Rono, agriculture principal secretary.

Devastation in Tanzania
In Tanzania, floods have claimed lives and decimated thousands of farmlands, with the Department of Disaster Management in the Prime Minister’s Office estimating a 30 per cent drop in food production.

“The rains and floods since January have left 155 dead and 236 injured and affected 200,000 people and 51,000 households. In Pwani and Morogoro regions alone, 76,700 hectares of farmland were flooded and 10,800 households were displaced to temporary camps and shelterss,” Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said in a recent statement to the Tanzanian Parliament.

With the majority of the Tanzanian population dependent on agriculture and livestock, the relentless floods have exacerbated food insecurity in the country. The ongoing floods in Eastern Africa have thus far affected over one million people in Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, and Burundi, disrupting regional food production, with experts predicting hunger in the coming weeks.

Climate change disrupting regional food production
The impacts of extreme weather events extend beyond the East Africa region, spreading across Southern Africa, where they pose a significant threat to food security.

Throughout the Southern Africa region, El Nino has exacerbated dry weather conditions and led to decreased rainfall, prompting governments in Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to declare states of emergency.

The situation in Zambia is particularly dire, prompting the country’s cabinet to approve the suspension of stringent measures, including taxes, on all imported maize last week to address the shortage caused by drought.

In leaked ministerial correspondence between the two countries, the Permanent Secretary in Uganda’s Ministry of Agriculture, David Kyomukama, confirmed receiving a request to supply up to 500,000 metric tonnes of grain to drought-stricken Zambia.

“The Government of Uganda has received an expression of interest for up to 500,000 tonnes of maize to be exported to Zambia. Certain requirements, including quality and available volumes, must be met to enable us to meet the export successfully. The purpose of this letter is to invite you to a stakeholder meeting to discuss the process and requirements for this opportunity,” he stated.

Experts believe this interplay of floods and droughts underscores the urgent need for climate-resilient agricultural practices and cross-border collaboration to mitigate the impacts on food systems.

Source: Down to Earth

The post East Africa warned of impending food shortage after floods devastate croplands, kill livestock first appeared on Commodity Insight Africa.

Anec, an association representing global grain exporters, said on Tuesday access to the port of Rio Grande had been disrupted as a local rail line stopped operating. The group, which represents firms like Cargill and Bunge (BG.N)

, opens new tabalso cited road blockades forcing grain trucks to travel an extra 400 kilometers (248.55 miles) through alternative routes to reach the port, increasing freight coThe unprecedented climate event, which left entire towns under water and destroyed critical infrastructure in the capital and rural areas, also killed livestock and caught farmers in the final stages of the corn and soy harvests, clouding the outlook for national grain production in 2023/2024.

The escalating crisis also led competing meatpackers to join forces to circumvent logistical hurdles brought about by the heavy downpours, which disrupted water and electricity services to 1.4 million people, the state’s Civil Defense agency said.
According to a local meat lobby, opens new tab, the meat companies began sharing resources to speed up delivery of feed and water supplies to chicken and hog farms, where an unspecified number of animals have perished due to the devastating floods.

Paulo Pires, president of Rio Grande do Sul farm lobby Fecoagro, said it was too early to know how much grain production had been lost due to the flooding that hit silos around river areas.

“They are large silos, so it is significant, but it is really difficult to quantify this,” Pires said by telephone.
Gedeao Pereira, president of agriculture lobby Farsul, confirmed isolated cases of food silos being hit but floods, but said they could dry in time and hence losses would be minimized. Pereira said he is more concerned with crops like soy which farmers have yet to harvest in Rio Grande do Sul, especially in center and southern areas.

The post Brazil floods hit food silos, disrupt routes to major grains port first appeared on Commodity Insight Africa.

In Summary

– There is a likelihood of increased food importation in the coming months as a direct consequence of the relentless floods

– Soil fertility and health face degradation due to leaching of nutrients and waterlogging

LOSS: A landslide that destroyed about two acres of tea farm in Kagarii village, Gatanga subcounty
Image: /ALICE WAITHERA

DISASTER: Lari Scheme residents assess the damage on farms by water from a dam in neighbouring Githirioni
Image: GEORGE MUGO

The impacts of the March-April-May rainy season extend beyond immediate crop loss to encompass broader disruptions across the food supply chain.

From farm-level destruction of crops to logistical challenges hindering emergency food aid distribution, the repercussions are manifold.

Soil fertility and health face degradation due to leaching of nutrients and waterlogging, further compromising agricultural productivity.

“When a farmer applies fertiliser in the soil, there is an active ingredient. This is what will be leaching in the bottom layers of the soil. The rooting system of most of our crops does not go further down beyond one foot.

“When nutrients leach into the lower layers of the soil, this hinders growth of the crop. This is likely to affect soil fertility and health,” he said.

Crop development will be affected because plants require a wet but warm environment to grow.

“In this kind of situation, it is warm and cold, so crop development will be affected,” he said.

There will also be disruption of relief food to areas like North Eastern Kenya which rely on annual supplies.

“Some of these areas have been severely affected by the floods. Now emergency food cannot reach those areas and they will be in serious need in the coming days,” Ochieng said.

Movement from the farm to the market has been affected, hence food wastage is anticipated, which may result in price hikes due to low supply and high demand.

Flooding may also lead to contamination with water borne diseases, which is a food safety concern.

“The flooding water may collect pathogens and contaminate the food system. Under food safety, there is also heavy metal contamination of farms and food, resulting from broken sewage and overflowing pit latrines now contaminating river systems and farms,” he said.”

Ochieng called for robust governmental response, emphasising the need for enhanced security measures to address potential threats to food safety and mitigate the broader socio-economic impacts.

The post Heavy rains to increase food importation – agricultural expert first appeared on Commodity Insight Africa.