On Tuesday, April 11, the Zambian Government announced a maize shortage that was threatening food security in the country.
The shortage, which was announced by the country’s Ministry of Finance and National Planning, was made barely a month after Kenya inked a deal to grow maize in the South African country.
Through a statement, the Zambian Government announced that just like Kenya, it would resort to importing duty-free maize.
“The finance minister Situmbeko Musokotwane has signed a statutory instrument to provide for the suspension of duty on maize flour.
“The measure has been implemented to help address the shortage of maize flour in some parts of the country,” the statement read in part.
Musokotwane revealed that suspending the duty would increase the availability of Zambia’s staple commodity.
Agriculture Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mithika Linturi on March 2023 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with his Zambian counterpart Mtolo Phiri of large-scale farming of maize in Zambia for export to Kenya.
“Kenya will be signing a contract with local farmers in Zambia in the next month that will see them grow maize for export to the Kenyan market,” the CS announced after the MoU signing.
Linturi revealed that the development was part of the government’s long-term plans to curb food insecurity in the country.
“The Government of Zambia has given us an opportunity to ship maize from Zambia to Kenya,” the CS announced at the time.
Under the deal, the two governments are supposed to enter into a contractual agreement where Zambia farmers would grow Maize solely for export to Kenya.
The agreement was to see between 20,000 to 40,000 hectares set aside for growing maize for the Kenyan market.
On why the government had settled on Zambia, Linturi explained, “The cost of production in Zambia is quite low as I will be getting Ksh40,000 per tonne.”
The Agriculture ministry has yet to issue a statement on whether the deal will continue following the maize shortage in Zambia.
