News

Poor maize crop in Southern Africa

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says the countries of southern Africa face a 26 percent drop in maize production this year.  While that is in comparison to the bumper crop of 2014, it would also be 15 percent below the five-year average for the region.

Erratic weather is being blamed for the decline: a late start to early-season rains in November and December followed by heavy rains and flooding in some countries and then no rain in February and early March.

South Africa, the region’s largest maize producer is also expecting the biggest drop in production, down 33 percent from 2014.  Smaller crops are expected across the ten countries which make up the sub-region.

Carryover stocks from 2014 will alleviate some of the shortage but prices already started to move higher in February.  South Africa is expecting to import 1.8 million metric tonnes of maize in 2015-16, about double what they imported in this year.  The need to import more, higher-priced maize may prove especially troublesome for countries like Botswana, Zambia and Swaziland where the bumper crops last year had finally reversed a food-shortage trend.

The FAO says it is monitoring the situation closely.  Read more here: