Tanzanian Authorities have imposed ban on Agricultural Products coming from Malawi and South Africa. Traders are counting their losses as this have caused a size able portion of their merchandise to spoil and decay. Businesses have bought losses as they have little money left.
Diplomatic efforts to address the dispute have failed but Tanzania’s agriculture minister said fresh talks were ongoing. Last month, Malawi blocked imports of flour, rice, ginger, bananas and maize from Tanzania, and other countries, saying this was to protect local producers.
South Africa has for years prohibited the entry of bananas from Tanzania. Tanzania’s Agriculture Minister Hussein Bashe said trade restrictions from those two countries “directly affected” traders from his country and described the trade barrier as “unfair and harmful”.
Traders are counting their losses as Tanzania clamps down on people trying to flout a ban on goods from neighbouring Malawi in an escalating regional trade row.
Locals tipped off, that some fellow traders had been arrested on the second day of a ban imposed by Tanzania on all agricultural imports from Malawi and South Africa.
Women in Malawian town of Karonga, traders – mostly women – said they were still shaken by the sight of tonnes of their produce slowly rotting, then ultimately being dumped after being denied entry into Tanzania.
“The losses I have incurred are big because I can’t go buy anything any more, and I don’t even know how I will feed my children,” One of the traders lament
But Tanzanian traders have also been hit. Tanzania’s agriculture minister posted a video on social media showing a pile of rotten bananas in a truck which had been prevented from entering Malawi.
Tonnes of tomatoes also spoiled at the border recently after lorries from Tanzania were denied entry into Malawi.
Malawian traders said they preferred agricultural goods from Tanzania because it was easier and more affordable to source them across the border. “Tanzanian products are big and sell very well in the market, and their prices are good. Our local [Malawi] products are more expensive. I have nothing to do – I don’t have the capacity to compete with those [who have big capital.
Trades in Malawi also disclosed that when they bring goods from Tanzania they are arrested while some rich people are given access to bring in goods from Tanzania. “They are targeting us who have little capital, while those with big money are still bringing in goods,” Traders who sells potatoes and bananas in Karonga market laments.
Following the crackdown, some traders have resorted to selling their goods in secret, afraid to display them openly for fear of arrest.
Malawi has become an increasingly important market for Tanzanian goods in recent years, with exports trebling between 2018 and 2023, according to official Tanzanian figures.
But 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.
It is not yet clear how hard South Africa, which exports various fruits, including apples and grapes, to Tanzania, will be hit by the ban. South African authorities are yet to comment.
Nneka Uyam 
Akudo Abengowe