SOUTHERN AFRICA: Relief agencies concerned over escalating maize prices

JOHANNESBURG, 1 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - Soaring maize prices in Southern Africa have sparked "serious concern" by the UN's World Food Programme (WFP), particularly in Malawi, which has suffered its worst harvest in a decade.

The initial food needs assessment in Malawi by the UN, NGOs and government was based on a maize price of between 15 and 18 US cents per kg, "but already some markets have recorded prices between 22 and 25 kwacha [17 to 20 cents] per kg - clearly, needs are going to increase," said WFP Regional Director Mike Sackett.

"The fact that prices are already rising dramatically - months ahead of the lean season - means that many people we assumed would be able to fend for themselves will need food aid earlier," Sackett pointed out. "It can take up to four months to move food to the region, so donations are needed urgently if we are to reach the neediest before the beginning of the lean season".

The lean season in southern Africa traditionally starts in December and runs through to March.

According to WFP, at least 10.7 million people in the region will need food aid during the year ahead, with Malawi the worst affected: at least 4.2 million, or 34 percent of the population, are at risk of food shortages.

Long queues at the understocked government-run grain outlets have become a common sight and "the situation could possibly get worse", as Malawi was battling with its worst harvest in a decade, said Sam Chimwaza, country representative of the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).

"ADMARC, the state grain marketer, which is selling maize at subsidised rates, does not have enough maize stocks, particularly in southern Malawi, which is impacting on the prices in the commercial market," he explained.

"Informal cross-border trade has made sure that maize is available in the commercial market, but because of increasing demands prices have continued to soar," added Chimwaza.

Drought and late delivery of fertilisers and seed has caused the latest food crisis in Malawi.

In neighbouring Zambia, where more than 1.2 million people are in need of food assistance, maize prices have also shot up. "We are not buying maize in Zambia, as it is no longer competitive," noted Sackett. The WFP has only been able to provide food assistance to about 35 percent of vulnerable Zambians because of a lack of funding.

A recent survey by the economic and social development research project of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection said the price of maize-meal - Zambia's staple food - had been rising steadily over the past few months: a 25 kg bag of maize-meal cost at least 25 US cents more in July than it did the month before.

Dominiciano Mulenga, national coordinator of Zambia's Disaster Management Unit, said the government was considering providing subsidised maize in 27 drought-affected districts. "We are expected to start providing food aid in the third week of September in these districts, for at least two months," he noted.

The government hoped to procure enough supplies to feed those in need until March next year after an appeal for food aid, expected to be launched next month, Mulenga said.

Across the border in southeastern Mozambique, maize prices have also been mounting rapidly - up to 40 percent higher than last year, according to WFP. The southern part of the country harvested 43 percent less cereals due to a prolonged dry spell and the outlook for the next harvest was also bleak, with water levels in all rivers at about 28 percent of the norm.

Some 428,000 Mozambicans are now in need of food aid, but the UN relief agency expects the number to rise to 534,000 between October and December, and to 587,000 between January and March next year.

WFP plans to provide food to at least 8.5 million people by the start of the lean season in December, but due to an immediate funding shortfall of US $187 million for programmes in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe, only a fraction of those who require assistance would receive it, the agency said.

The situation in southern Africa is considered so serious that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote to 27 heads of state, the European Commission and the African Development Bank in early August to raise the alarm over urgent funding to "avert a catastrophe".

South Africa's sizeable grain surplus - the only country in the region without a food deficit - has helped ensure that WFP and other governments in the region have access to maize at competitive prices. "Unlike 2002, [when the entire region was affected by one of the worst droughts] the prices in South Africa are considerably lower this year," Sackett observed.

Chimwaza said Malawi had already issued a tender for 63,000 mt of food aid, most of which would be procured from South Africa in the next few weeks.

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