Malawi, Zambia could rival South Africa as regional breadbaskets

Malawi and Zambia could rival South Africa as the regional bread basket as their governments plough more money into farming. South Africa, which has dominated the region's maize export market for years, could meet the challenge by shifting resources to crops used for animal feed like soybean and sunflower, analysts said.

South Africa has superior transport infrastructure and farming methods. But Zambia and Malawi, blessed with better farming climates and more funding, could muscle in on its traditional export markets. Zambia has vast untapped water resources, while Malawi has large expanses of underutilised arable land. These factors could transform them into regional food giants, if they can draw sufficient investment.

"The potential is there to outproduce South Africa by far," said Ernst Janovsky, head of agriculture at South Africa's First National Bank. "In four to five years Zambia should outproduce South Africa if the infrastructure is in place to export." He pointed out that last year Zambia had already outdone South Africa as a maize supplier to Zimbabwe -- one of the biggest importers of the staple grain in the region since a political crisis sent its own once substantial output spiralling down.

Some question whether the two minnows can meet optimistic crop forecasts or overcome the hurdles of poor infrastructure. Others say they may benefit from their closer location to countries like Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and even Tanzania further east.

Malawi in February forecast a maize surplus of one million tonnes and Zambia said it should produce about 600,000 tonnes more than it needs. South Africa, on the other hand, has been hit by one of its frequent droughts and expects to suffer a deficit of 300,000 tonnes this season. Zambian and Malawian officials say cash injections have helped production after years of persistent drought, whereas post-apartheid South Africa has cut back support in the form of agricultural subsidies and tariffs.

South Africa has reduced its annual support to farmers to 5 percent of gross farm receipts from 10-15 percent a decade ago, according to the OECD group of industrialised nations. In contrast, Zambia this season provided subsidised seed and pesticides to small-scale farmers worth $36 million and plans to spend $25 million over five years on agriculture. Malawi has also rolled out a similar fertiliser subsidy scheme.

source : Reuters