Tanzania has banned all agricultural imports from South Africa and Malawi in the latest episode of a growing trade row.”We are taking this step to protect our business interests. This is business – in business, we must all respect each other,” Tanzania’s Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe said on Wednesday, while confirming the move. South Africa has for years prohibited the entry of bananas from Tanzania. Malawi, which shares a border with Tanzania, has blocked imports of flour, rice, ginger, bananas and maize from its northern neighbour.Diplomatic efforts to resolve the long-running trade issues have so far failed but Bashe said fresh talks were ongoing. South African exports to Tanzania of various fruits, including apples and grapes, will be hit. Meanwhile, landlocked Malawi, which has relied on Tanzanian ports to carry its exports such as tobacco, sugar and soybeans to the rest of the world, will have to reroute its goods.Malawi’s ban on the import of certain produce, announced in March, was designed as a temporary measure covering goods from all countries to protect local producers, according to the authorities in Lilongwe. “It is a strategic move to create an environment where local businesses can thrive without the immediate pressure of foreign competition,” Malawi’s Trade Minister, Vitumbiko Mumba, said at the time. Tanzania’s agriculture minister said Malawi’s move had “directly affected” his country’s traders and described the restrictions as “unfair and harmful”.While confirming the import ban, Bashe assured Tanzanians that it would not threaten their food security.”No Tanzanian will die from a lack of South African grapes or apples,” he said, adding that, “we are taking these actions to protect Tanzanian interests”. South Africa and Malawi governments are yet to comment on the ban. The disagreement appears to already be impacting trade flows within the three countries – all members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), a regional po …
