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Why Tanzania has banned agricultural imports from Malawi, South Africa
What you need to know:
- The ban, which took effect on April 24, 2025, comes in the wake of rising tensions over repeated export restrictions imposed by both countries on Tanzanian produce
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has suspended all imports and transit of agricultural produce from Malawi and South Africa, citing urgent phytosanitary concerns and what it describes as unfair and non-compliant trade practices that threaten the country's agricultural sector.
The ban, which took effect on April 24, 2025, comes in the wake of rising tensions over repeated export restrictions imposed by both countries on Tanzanian produce and growing concerns about the spread of high-risk pests identified in South African agricultural exports.
In two separate public notices issued by the Tanzania Plant Health and Pesticides Authority (TPHPA) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Tanzania said the decision was made to protect its food systems and uphold national and international plant health obligations.
Pest threats and IPPC violations
According to TPHPA, the move was precipitated by both countries’ non-compliance with international trade guidelines under the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the Intra-African Phytosanitary Council (IAPSC), which all three countries have ratified.
In Malawi’s case, Tanzania said it had tolerated repeated blanket bans on its exports, despite efforts to meet Malawi’s phytosanitary standards, only to face ongoing trade barriers.
“These blanket bans have seriously breached the eight fundamental principles of the IPPC as stipulated under International Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures 1 (ISPM 1),” says TPHPA in its official notice.
These principles include sovereignty, necessity, managed risk, minimal impact, transparency, non-discrimination, and technical justification.
TPHPA added that Tanzania has now launched a Pest Risk Analysis (PRA) on all agricultural products from Malawi and, pending its completion, has halted all imports and transits of plants and plant products from its southern neighbour.
“This [ban] necessitates stopping all importations… until Tanzania is confident that there is no such phytosanitary risk,” the statement reads.
Goss’s Wilt among newly detected threats
In a parallel move, Tanzania cited more acute concerns about agricultural commodities originating from South Africa, particularly the detection of the Clavibacter nebraskensis bacterium, known to cause Goss’s bacterial wilt and leaf blight in maize, which poses a serious threat to food security.
“The ongoing assessment has revealed the presence of several high-risk quarantine pests in South Africa,” notes the TPHPA.
“This includes the recently declared Clavibacter nebraskensis... which poses a significant threat to Tanzanian food security,” adds TPHPA.
The resulting ban from South Africa affects a wide array of goods, including fresh fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, raw grains, legumes, trees, wood packaging materials, and even soil or artificial growing media used in plant cultivation.
TPHPA emphasized that the ban will remain in place until a comprehensive risk assessment is completed and new phytosanitary guidelines are developed.
Transit trade has also been suspended
Significantly, the restrictions do not only apply to imports but also to goods transiting through Tanzania, including those bound for Malawi and South Africa.
This impacts key regional trade corridors such as the Dar es Salaam Corridor, which links Malawi to the port of Dar es Salaam.
“Tanzania is hereby imposing a ban on agricultural products from Malawi [and South Africa], including those on transit to [or through] Tanzania, effective from 24th April 2025 till further notice,” both notices state.
TPHPA underscored that both bans are grounded in Tanzanian law—specifically the Plant Health Act No. 4 of 2020 (Cap. 133) and its Plant Health Regulations of 2023, amended in 2024.
These legal instruments empower the Authority to prevent the introduction and spread of quarantine pests and ensure that imports and exports comply with international standards.
“TPHPA, as the national plant protection organisation, is responsible for safeguarding local agriculture and upholding international phytosanitary commitments,” says TPHPA Director General, Prof Joseph Ndunguru, in a statement.
The bans have raised concerns among regional trade analysts, especially as all three nations are part of major trade blocs, including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
These frameworks encourage trade liberalisation and discourage non-tariff barriers.
Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture, however, maintains that the bans are temporary and technical, not political, and that trade channels may reopen once all health and safety concerns are addressed.
It remains unclear how long the bans will stay in place. The government has not issued a definitive timeline but indicated that it will depend on the findings of its pest risk assessments and the compliance of Malawi and South Africa with international trade and plant health standards.
