Malawi grain production to fall this year

Heavy rains and a four-week dry spell in southern Malawi will cut maize production by 3.4 percent this growing season but output will not fall below the country's annual needs, an official said on Monday.

Output is expected to fall to about 3.28 million tonnes from last year's level of 3.4 million tonnes, said Patrick Kambambe, principal secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture.

"But despite the fall, this year's harvest will still be above the annual requirement of 2.2 million tonnes," he told Reuters.

Malawi, one of the poorest nations in the world, started rationing maize in early February following a report in parliament that the country's stocks were dwindling as heavy flooding wiped out many crops.

The floods could trim expected economic growth of more than 7 percent after years of strong expansion fuelled largely by good maize harvests, economic reforms and an increase in aid.

Last month, Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika denied the country was running out of maize despite a report that two people starved to death, and opposition claims that the government sold too much of its maize to Zimbabwe.

Malawi harvested 3.1 million tonnes of maize in the last planting season, its biggest in 10 years. The government exported 400,000 tonnes to neighbouring Zimbabwe, which is battling a chronic economic crisis.

U.N. agencies in the country estimate that a million or more people may need food aid following rains that have displaced 70,000 people and killed six in southern Malawi.