Posted on May, 6, 2024 at 10:04 am
South Africa is currently looking at a 20% reduction in maize yields, while the Southern African region has suffered a 50% loss in staple food crops.
Maize represents 90% of South Africa’s grain production. The country produces both white corn, a domestic food staple, and yellow corn, which is mostly used for animal feed.
At the inaugural provincial Food Imbizo in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday, various stakeholders convened to promote democratic food governance across cities and towns in South Africa.
At the conference, Professor Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi from UKZN’s School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences said South Africa does not have enough maize for export nor to buffer the region.
“Already we have seen a lot of households suffering because of the current levels of inflation … the implications of oil pices and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict on food prices,” he said.
Mabhaudi said extreme weather events were also making it challenging for subsistence farmers to produce enough crops to cover part of the household’s food requirements
He spoke of several interventions one could consider, like de-stigmatising underutilised indigenous and traditional food crops.
“Some of which are nutritious, drought-tolerant and could be assisting in times like this to diversify and stabilise food supply,” he added.
Amidst this shortage, the first shipment of yellow maize from Argentina has just arrived in the Port of Cape Town.
Zimbabwe has also announced plans to import 1.4 million metric tonnes of maize from central and South America.
Argentinian yellow maize is helping to curb the costs of transporting animal feed to the Western Cape. The imported grain is up to R400 per tonne cheaper than the inland product, writes Moneyweb.
The Western Cape has a strong animal feed manufacturing and broiler industry, but no maize is produced in the region. It has to be transported from the Northern Cape or the Free State.
In years of potential shortages, due to high inland transportation costs it is more cost-effective to import yellow maize from abroad.
These logistical challenges are being compounded by multiple factors, said André van der Vyver, executive director of the South African Cereals and Oilseeds Trading Association.
“This includes global prices, exchange rates, seasonal trends, harvesting price pressures, transport, and the availability of road trucks or rail wagons.”
Zimbabwe meanwhile has a grain deficit of over 680 000 metric tonnes.
Once the “breadbasket of Africa,” Zimbabwe is grappling with an El Nino-induced drought that has affected the food security of over 2.7 million people.
Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said the volume of maize to be imported is expected to arrive between May and 30 July, through various entry points.
“We will be increasing our source countries to about five, to include Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, and America,” he said.
Source: The South African