Logistical problems hamper food aid

South Africa has increasingly become the bread basket of the region, but transporting much needed food aid to hungry Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe is proving a difficult task. The reliance of neighbouring countries - and aid agencies - on South Africa for the urgent supply of food has placed a tremendous burden on South Africa's state-owned railway operator, Spoornet. Mike Asefovitz, Spoornet's communications officer, told IRIN that the capacity of the company was being stretched by the demand. "For Zambia, for example, we had two orders there totaling 60,000 mt. To date we have transferred 14,000 mt. For Malawi we had 69,000 mt ordered and we have completed delivery of 39,000 mt. For Zimbabwe we've had an order of 32,000 mt that we only started loading last Thursday and according to our guys 13,000 mt will be delivered in February and from then on 5,000 mt per week," he said. Due to the large tonnages ordered "there was concern in South Africa, about capacity". To export 5,000 mt a week to Zimbabwe would mean between 40 and 50 wagons would be used, said Asefovitz. "Which is a lot. If you talk about problems, one of the biggest challenges is the turn-around time (of the trains). Over-border has been a problem in many instances, no company can afford to have rolling stock sitting by idly for up to 30 days." However, an IRIN source indicated the situation is far more serious than Spoornet has indicated. "At the moment there is a shortage of closed wagons that are specifically designed for bulk maize transportation. As a result Spoornet has to use other types of wagons that make it necessary to bag the maize." Bulk maize carrying wagons are loaded directly from a maize silo, loose maize is poured from the silo into the wagon through a hatch on top of the wagon. These wagons are equipped with sluices and doors to allow the maize to be drained from them at their destination. Using less suitable wagons means the maize must be bagged. This takes longer and increases costs, by R65 (US $5.70) per bag. Every R65 bag carries one mt of maize. This means that for every 10,000 mt of bagged maize it costs R650,000 extra (US $57,000). "And the bags do not come back, they are ripped open to get the maize out and then used by people for shelter and the like. So you cannot re-use them and have to keep buying more." Open wagons are unsuitable because Spoornet would then have to hire security to guard them, the maize would be easily accessible for hungry thieves. Protecting the maize from rain is also a problem. Although tarpaulin covers are placed over the wagons is often ineffective in driving rain. Another problem is that silo's often cannot handle two loading points, one for domestic and one for export. "Compounding the problem is that, in some instances such as Malawi, it would be necessary to do some road loading as well. There's not a railway line of any credibility in Malawi. The maize will have to be moved to Bulawayo for road shipment onwards." IRIN's source said: "Railways thrive on good planning, you don't come to them today and say 'move 50,000 mt to Malawi tomorrow'. You have floods to contend with and scarce resources - wagons, locomotives and crews. To divert extra (rolling) stock for Malawi means running the risk of shorting the domestic customers, getting the balance right is difficult." A shortage of train slots, spaces for trains on railway lines, is also not helping. "The system is clogged. How many (wagons) can you physically run within a day with the current turn around times of wagons ... if it takes 25 days to come back from Bulawayo, 10-1 you will not be able to move the tonnage needed. The receiver of the cargo should be able to offload on weekends and even at night. The wagons must turn around faster, those are some of the logistical constraints, some of the agents have people based in Beitbridge (South Africa's border with Zimbabwe) and Bulawayo to try and turn the wagons around faster." The logistical snags hampering the transportation of food aid will not help the food security situation in Southern Africa. A Southern African Development Community (SADC) food security overview shows that the need is great in some countries. "A prolonged mid-season dry spell has scorched summer crops across the southern half of the SADC region since early January through to early February. Crops have suffered severe moisture stress mostly in parts of southern Mozambique, Swaziland, southern and western Zimbabwe, Botswana, southern Zambia and Namibia," it stated. Of Zimbabwe the report said: "Production prospects (were) dampened by a dry spell, input shortages and reduced commercial maize plantings." "Acute shortages of fertilizers and a projected 40 percent reduction in commercial maize plantings suggest reduced maize harvest prospects. [The National Early Warning Unit] NEWU reports that a food crisis has already set in, following a 593,000 mt maize deficit assessed for the current marketing year ending in March. More than 500,000 people are threatened with famine. "An appeal for food aid through UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) has received slow responses although WFP (World Food Programme) food aid imported from South Africa started arriving in late January." As IRIN reported last week, the Zimbabwean Grain Marketing Board (GMB) has, "faced with critical staple maize shortages ... embarked on a seizure of on-farm maize stocks held by commercial farmers that has so far yielded over 42,000 mt. GMB reported in early February that 200,000 mt of maize imports had been secured from South Africa." In Malawi, the food security report said floods have been reported in Karonga in the north, Salima in the central region as well as in Machinga, Chikwawa and Nsanje districts in the southern region, although the extent of damage to crops has not yet been assessed. "The food security situation remains tight with the aggregate cereal deficit assessed at 313,000 mt for the current marketing year. Government is importing 150,000 mt of maize from South Africa and an additional 30,000 mt from Tanzania to cover part of this deficit. However, delivery has been slow due to transport problems, with only 60,000 mt of South African maize having arrived. Recent reports indicate a significant improvement in the delivery rate with about 1,300 mt received daily from South Africa." In Zambia re-planting is necessary in the south following a mid-season dry spell, the report said. "The national cereal supply situation remains unsatisfactory as a result of low delivery of imported maize. Of the planned commercial maize imports of 149,450 mt, only 26,100 mt had been received by mid-January, more than six months since the deficit was initially assessed. Poor market supply has led to higher maize prices, creating access problems to many households. "The World Food Programme plans to import 12,000 mt of maize from South Africa for its targeted relief programme in 24 districts that were adversely affected by either excessive rains or prolonged dry spell during the last crop season." Fortunately for the region South Africa has maize surplus of 1.09 million mt. The SADC overview said: "The projected surplus would rise to 1.91 million mt if the desired carry-over stock facility of 825,000 mt were ... made available for utilisation. "Such a level of surplus would fully meet export commitments to maize-deficit SADC countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. The revised wheat harvest estimate of 2.5 million mt (up from 2.3 million mt), has led to an overall domestic wheat surplus of 55,000 mt against a shortfall of 78,000 mt projected earlier in the season."