The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) is to transport 7,000 tonnes of maize from Tanzania to Zimbabwe.
In an emailed response to questions sent by Bloomberg, Tazara Managing Director Bruno Ching’andu also revealed that in September, Tanzania sold 17,000 tonnes of maize to Zimbabwe, with the shipment done ahead of schedule. He said:
The next batch of 83,000 tons is still in discussion, however, we have in the meantime received an order to move 7,000 tonnes.
… the exercise, which was meant to take three months, took just over two months to complete.
Zimbabwe is currently in the throes of a severe famine due to drought and misuse of billions of dollars meant for a government-funded programme, Command Agriculture.
Meanwhile, the country has an 800 000 tonnes deficit of maize, with the United Nations World Food Programme estimating that half of Zimbabwe’s population requires food aid.