Zimbabwe to pay Malawi US$94m for maize imports
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| Desperate granny | Children scrambling for food |
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe will pay Malawi US$94m for 400 000 tonnes of maize it is buying to feed around four million people this year, National Food Reserves Agency (NFRA) said on Friday.
"Zimbabwe is paying us a total of about US$94m as soon as we finish delivering the maize and so far over 200 000 tonnes have been delivered," NFRA chairperson Ken Kandodo told Reuters.
Kandodo could not, however, say whether Zimbabwe has paid any money upfront.
Political analyst have urged the Zimbabwean leader Mr Robert Mugabe to accept failure and step down as the country was not longer ago the bread basket of Africa.
Thousands of Malawians used to flock to Zimbabwe to work as domestic workers just to earn the Zimbabwean dollar which at some point was more powerful than the United States dollar.
NFRA, a government-controlled food reserves body, started exporting maize to Zimbabwe last year March, a move that angered the opposition-controlled parliament which accused the government of giving away maize at the expense of Malawians facing hunger this year.
The UN World Food Programme says 1 million people in Malawi will need food aid this year despite a maize surplus of over 1 million tonnes.
"The benefits of selling maize to Zimbabwe are colossal. We are not only earning US$94m from it but it also encouraged farmers to grow more maize because the prices have been good on the local market," Kandodo said.
Zimbabwe, formerly southern Africa's breadbasket, has battled serious food shortages since 2001 when President Robert Mugabe's government began their land reform programme.
UN aid agencies Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have said 4 million Zimbabweans - about a third of the population - will require food aid by the first quarter of 2008. Zim Diaspora - Reuters