Zimbabwe to pay Malawi $94 million for maize

- Cash-strapped Zimbabwe will pay Malawi $94 million for 400,000 tonnes of maize it is buying to feed around 4 million people this year, National Food Reserves Agency (NFRA) said on Friday.

"Zimbabwe is paying us a total of about $94 million as soon as we finish delivering the maize and so far over 200,000 tonnes have been delivered," NFRA chairman Ken Kandodo told Reuters.

Kandodo could not, however, say whether Zimbabwe has paid any money upfront.

NFRA, a government controlled food reserves body, started exporting maize to Zimbabwe last year March, a move that angered the opposition controlled parliament which accused government of giving away maize at the expense of Malawians facing hunger this year.

The UN World Food Programme says 1 million people in Malawi will need food aid this year despite a maize surplus of over 1 million tonnes.

"The benefits of selling maize to Zimbabwe are colossal. We are not only earning $94 million from it but it also encouraged farmers to grow more maize because the prices have been good on the local market," Kandodo said.

Zimbabwe, formerly southern Africa's bread basket, has battled serious food shortages since 2001 when President Robert Mugabe's government seized farms from whites to resettle landless blacks.

UN aid agencies Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have said 4 million Zimbabweans -- about a third of the population -- will require food aid by the first quarter of 2008.