WANDILE SIHLOBO: We need to talk about Zimbabwe and its maize needs
It is unclear where Zimbabwe will get its maize supplies from, as the likes of SA and Zambia, are expected to have tight supplies due to lower production in the 2018/2019 season
The subject of maize needs will soon dominate the headlines in Zimbabwe and, to a certain extent, Mozambique. These two countries are set to record poor maize harvests due to droughts, which delayed plantings at the start of the 2019 season, and when it finally rained, it became rather excessive, as witnessed during Cyclone Idai at the start of the year.
The US department of agriculture (USDA) forecasts Zimbabwe’s 2019 maize production at 800,000 tonnes, down by 53% from 2018. This is not even half of what Zimbabwe consumes a year, which is roughly 2-million tonnes. So, there will surely be large volumes of imports throughout the 2019/2020 period...
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