Drought puts maize prices under pressure
Friday, January 18, 2019
Botswana consumes 120,000 tonnes of maize meal annually, but local production only amounts to 10,000 tonnes annually.
Local millers import the balance from South Africa, whose major white maize producing areas are under increasing pressure due to low and sporadic rains this season. This week, agricultural research groups in South Africa estimated that planted hectarage in the main maize producing provinces of North West and Free State were down to an average of 65%, while the total national estimated harvest would be roughly equal to the disastrous
It has only been a month since the newly elected government, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), took power, and there are already a lot of changes. Across different ministries, ministers are hard at work. Following heavy rainfall and storms that hit Francistown recently, the Minister of State Presidency, Moeti Mohwasa, made a commitment that government will assist those affected by the heavy rains. Mohwasa, when addressing the media in...