Zimbabwe reintroduces maize import ban after bumper harvest

Zimbabwe has brought back a ban on maize imports to boost local farmers, and has grown enough of its own this year to supply its millers after a bumper harvest, a senior agriculture ministry official said on Monday.

Improved rainfall boosted output and reversed a sharp decline last year when an El Nino-induced drought forced the country to rely on imports, including genetically modified maize.

"We assess the situation every day. We must protect local purchases from our local farmers," Obert Jiri, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, told Reuters.

Zimbabwe, which consumes about 1.8 million metric tonnes of maize annually, saw production fall to around 800,000 metric tonnes in 2023/24 from 2.3 million metric tonnes two years earlier.

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