Tanzania, Malawi and South Africa in agricultural products market turmoil

DODOMA,  Tanzania 

The Tanzanian government has urged Malawi and South Africa until next Wednesday to open their markets for agricultural products from Tanzania, otherwise it will disallow entrance or passage of agricultural products from those countries.

The Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Bashe, announced the measures through his X social media page, on the morning of Thursday, April 17, 2025, where he said that Tanzania is fed up with the unexplained restrictions imposed by some neighboring countries against Tanzanian products.

“We are informed that Malawi has blocked various products from entering their country. These products include flour, rice, ginger, bananas and even maize, which has caused our Tanzanian traders to be unable to import goods into the country.” Said Bashe.

He said that for five years, Tanzania has been trying to open the South African market for banana products without success, a situation similar to the 10-year efforts that took a long time to achieve the sale of avocados outside the country. 

“For the last time, we are continuing efforts to communicate with the governments of South Africa and Malawi until next Wednesday. If we do not receive a positive response, the Ministry of Agriculture will restrict all agricultural products and all products from South Africa and Malawi.” He stressed.

He reiterated that Tanzania will no longer allow passage of products from Malawi or South Africa through mainland to the port of Dar es Salaam or other countries. Adding that the same measures were taken last year, that forced those countries to open their markets.

The Minister also said that Tanzania will suspend the export of fertilizers to Malawi as part of measures to respond to the restrictions, issuing a notice to Tanzanian traders not to load any cargo to Malawi from Wednesday next week, if there is no change in position from those countries.

“It should be noted that as the Minister responsible, I have made all efforts to contact the Minister of Agriculture of Malawi, without receiving any positive response,” he said.