How scramble for food is affecting regional trade

Dar es Salaam. Cereal traders in eastern, central and southern Africa are finding it increasingly difficult to conduct business as countries employ new tactics to restrict exports and protect their citizens against looming hunger.

There were complaints from Ugandan traders last week after they learnt that Tanzanian authorities, through the Agriculture ministry, had temporarily suspended the issuance of rice and maize export permits.

As a result, about 200 lorries laden with rice and maize seeds were barred from crossing into Uganda through the Mutukula One-Stop Border Post.

The suspension is in line with a government circular that took effect on June 13, 2023.

The circular seeks to enable the government to take stock of the availability of cereals and food processing during the 2023/24 financial year.

Tanzania has also issued new directives aimed at formalising trade in food crops for the benefit of the government, farmers and foreign traders.

Agriculture minister Hussen Bashe said recently that the directives, which include the issuance of maize export permits, do not target any neighbouring country and that the government expected traders to comply.

Kampala Rice Traders Association (KRTA) chairperson Livingstone Ssenyonga said KRTA members who had consignments of rice and maize in Tanzania were given only seven hours to ferry them into Uganda or be blocked from taking the merchandise across the border.

“This angered our members and we have since petitioned the Minister for Trade, Mr Francis Mwebesa, to convene a bilateral meeting with the Tanzanian authorities and address this matter,” the Daily Monitor quoted him saying last week.

Mr Ssenyonga said many Ugandan traders got rice and other food items like maize and beans from Kahama, located 460 kilometres from the Mutukula border, and it was therefore not possible to meet the seven-hour ultimatum issued by Tanzanian authorities.

Earlier this month, about 200 lorries transporting maize from Tanzania to Kenya were held up at the Namanga and Holili border posts, sparking an outcry from traders and drivers.

“I’ve been stranded for the past one week with no hope of clearance. We are incurring colossal amounts in losses daily. Let the two governments ensure seamless cross-border trade,” said Mr Sammy Mwaura, a trader from the Kenyan town of Nakuru.

There was a similar situation at Tanzania’s border with Zambia in Tunduma, with Tanzanian traders being the ones complaining this time around.

Last month, Tanzanian traders demonstrated and blocked the main road in the border town of Tunduma to force Tanzanian authorities to discuss with their Zambian counterparts so that dozens of lorries carrying about 1,200 tonnes of maize that was being imported from Zambia could be cleared.

The traders said despite being in possession of all relevant permits and buying consignments through legal channels, Zambian authorities were not allowing them to transport their maize to Tanzania.

Momba district commissioner Fakii Lulandala said earlier in the month that the Zambia government had asked the traders to sell their maize within Zambia instead of ferrying it to Tanzania.

He urged the traders to remain calm as the two governments worked on a solution to the problem.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan asked residents of Magu in Mwanza Region earlier this month to make proper use of their produce to protect themselves from hunger.

She said due to the threat of global hunger, the government was in the process of buying and storing more food in its strategic grain reserves as a way of ensuring food security for Tanzanians.

This is happening when latest data shows that millions across East Africa are at risk of starvation this year due to a combination of natural calamities and conflicts.

Conflict-torn DR Congo is leading the pack with about 25 million facing food scarcity, according to data released by the Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers Forum (Esaff).

Esaff has a network of 2.4 million members working in 16 countries in eastern and southern Africa.

In South Sudan, 7.7 million people are at risk of not having enough food, while in Kenya, statistics by the Global Food and Nutrition Dashboard indicate that 5.43 million people were at risk of food insecurity this year.

Uganda has 2.5 million people at risk, while 1.1 million people are projected to be severely impacted by food shortages in Tanzania.

An agriculture stakeholder, Mr Audax Rukonge, said yesterday insufficient rainfall and strife in several countries in the region had adversely hampered production and increased demand for food in the region.

He said there were some countries such as Uganda that had been empowering their traders to import enough cereals in order to meet demand in neighbouring countries.

“Governments are obliged to protect citizens from food shortages. Likewise, Tanzania is supposed to saturate its stocks by offering better prices through the National Food Reserve Authority and the Cereals and Other Produce Board,” he suggested.

Mr Rukonge said the export of agriculture produce should be handled with caution because, apart from the absence of a law restricting exports, farmers are free to sell their produce based on proximity and favourable prices.

“Once farmers don’t get good returns in a particular season, they are discouraged from engaging in farming in the following season.”

Repoa executive director Donald Mmari said a shortage of rains and the Russia-Ukraine war had escalated demand for food in various parts of the world.

“DR Congo is not a good producers of food crops and therefore relies on imports. Populations that are growing rapidly in the region have led to the scramble for food we are currently witnessing,” he said in a telephone interview.

Dr Mmari added that Tanzania, like any other country, was obliged to protect its people from food shortages, but also had the responsibility to ensure that farmers got better prices for their produce, noting that what was happening was a balance of the two.

“For a long time, we have failed to collect enough data on exports of agricultural produce because most farmers are operating informally.

“Formalisation of trade in agricultural produce is a good initiative because it will lead to the right export volumes and prices and enable the government to collect its fair share of revenue,” he added.

For his part, Prof Delphin Rwegasira of the University of Dar es Salaam’s Economics Department said what was happening was a result of a flawed agriculture policy.

“Once farmers have secured markets in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, India, Brazil and elsewhere in the world, these markets should be protected.

“Pro-growth investment should encourage market growth. Farmers should be encouraged to sell their produce anywhere in the world in order to encourage agricultural growth,” Prof Rwegasira said.

He advised the government to use its foreign exchange reserves to import enough food in order to promptly and effectively address any shortage.

Prof Rwegasira added that foreign exchange reserves are there to support economic growth and foreign markets should be protected at all cost.