Govt clampdown on illegal cross-border maize trade

An estimated one in eight Malawians are facing food shortages this year, causing the government to suspend maize exports to neighbouring countries, a senior official confirmed on Tuesday. The principal secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Charles Msosa, told IRIN the main concern was that "tonnes of maize" were being illegally transported across the country's borders. "We cannot have truckloads of maize leaving Malawi when the country is experiencing a deficit and would have to import stocks," Msosa said. He said the authorities had already put in place stiffer control measures to monitor traffic heading into Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. "Should the custom officials discover maize leaving the country they will impound the maize and arrest the individuals on site. We suspect that the bulk is leaving from the north of country [into Tanzania]," he added. It remained unclear just how much maize was leaving Malawi illegally, but authorities said cross-border trade had "worsened" the current food shortages, which are expected to affect 1.4 million Malawians. "One of the reasons why maize sellers try to reach markets across the border is because of proximity - some maize producing areas are a lot closer to border towns than to local markets. Roads leading to our own markets are poor, which encourages these farmers to sell to neighbouring countries," Msosa explained. He downplayed suggestions that farmers were pursuing better prices in markets across the border. "If farmers were mainly seeking better prices they would spend more time getting to our local markets because there are shortages within the country. These shortages, like anywhere else, have led to an increase in maize prices," he told IRIN. Malawi requires 2.2 million mt of the staple maize annually, but crop assessments by the National Statistics Office have put the anticipated harvest at 1.73 million mt - 13 percent less than last year's 1.98 million mt. In parts of southern Malawi, where there has been a sharp drop in crop production is being sold at twice its normal price. Preliminary findings from a newly instituted system monitoring informal cross-border trading, which became effective at the beginning of this month, showed that the country has been informally importing about 1,500 mt to 2,500 mt of maize every week, mostly from Mozambique, but this would not be enough to make up the shortfall. "Even though we do have maize coming in informally we still are experiencing a deficit. But there are opportunists among the maize producers who will take maize across borders only to [import] the same maize to Malawi at a higher price during November [lean season]," Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Andrew Daudi said.