Zimbabwe has brought back a ban on maize imports to boost local farmers, and has grown enough of its own this year to supply its millers after a bumper harvest, a senior agriculture ministry official said on Monday.

Improved rainfall boosted output and reversed a sharp decline last year when an El Nino-induced drought forced the country to rely on imports, including genetically modified maize.

"We assess the situation every day. We must protect local purchases from our local farmers," Obert Jiri, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, told Reuters.

Zimbabwe, which consumes about 1.8 million metric tonnes of maize annually, saw production fall to around 800,000 metric tonnes in 2023/24 from 2.3 million metric tonnes two years earlier.

Enough stocks

That crisis prompted the southern African government to temporarily lift import restrictions to ease food shortages.

Jiri said this year's recovery, combined with state support programmes such as the Pfumvudza smallholder scheme, has left the country with enough stocks.

Independent analyst Paul Chidziva says that Zimbabwe's agriculture sector – which employs around 70% of the population – remains vulnerable to droughts and other extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change.

The government is promoting drought-tolerant crops such as sorghum and millet. Jiri said the current surplus provides a rare opportunity to reinforce food security and reduce reliance on imports.

Zimbabwe spent $300 million in importing maize in 2020 as successive droughts left more than half the population in need of food aid.