By Staff Writer 

Cabinet has assured the nation that there will be enough grain before the commencement of the next maize/traditional grains intake in April 2024.

This assurance was made this week when Cabinet informed the nation that the country produced 2.57 million metric tonnes of maize and traditional grains during the 2022/2023 season.

The country's consumption stands at 2.2 million metric tonnes of maize/traditional grains (1.8 metric tonnes for food and 400 000 for stock feed), translating to 6 027 metric tonnes daily, with 4 931 metric tonnes going towards human consumption. The monthly human consumption requirement is 150 000 metric tonnes," said the report. 

"Wheat stocks of 247 371 metric tonnes as at 28 January, 2024 will last eleven months, at a monthly drawdown rate of 21 000 metric tonnes. Regarding the summer crops marketing update, the nation is informed that the to total marketed crops was 526 082 metric tonnes for the 2022/2023 summer crops, out of which the GMB purchased 210 579 metric tonnes. The GMB intake constituted 39% market share for all the marketed crops. Pertaining to tobacco, a total of 36.8 million kilogrammes has been exported this year, at an average price of US$7.33 per kilogramme, compared to the 11.6 million kilogrammes exported over a similar period in 2023 at an average price of US$4.31 per kg.

"As the nation may recall, from a record production of 296 million kilogrammes under the Second Republic, 236 031 405 kilogrammes of tobacco worth US$1 237 342 456 was subsequently exported in 2023. Most of the tobacco being sold in 2024 is destined for the Far East, Africa, the Middle East and European Union markets. A total of 88 747 082 kilogrammes of seed cotton was marketed as at 25 January, 2024, compared to the 55 972 612 kilogrammes sold over a corresponding period in 2023."