Zimbabwe bans grain imports to protect farmers
A year after a drought left millions in need of food aid, the government announces that local farmers have produced enough maize to meet domestic demand
Harare — Zimbabwe has banned grain imports to protect local farmers after producing enough to meet domestic demand, a government minister said on Tuesday, just a year after a devastating drought left more than 4-million people in need of food aid. The Southern African nation’s grain agency had also raised $200m from the government and private sector to purchase maize from farmers, the Herald newspaper said. The national treasury last week forecast output of the staple maize at 2.1-million tonnes in 2017, from 511,000 tonnes in 2016. "It is true we have banned all grain imports because we have produced enough this year and also because we need to protect our local farmers," Davis Mharapira, the deputy minister of agriculture said. Mharapira said the Grain Marketing Board would pay $390 a tonne for white maize, almost triple the $143 for the September contract for white maize in SA, one of the countries from which Zimbabwe has previously imported maize. The deputy minister said the hi...
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