Zambia’s Corn Forecast Drops

Zambia’s Agriculture Minister, Michael Katambo, recently lowered the country’s 2017/18 corn outlook by 34 percent due to drought. The reduced production forecast was brought about by dry weather experienced between November 2017 and January 2018. In 2017/18, area harvested of corn fell to 1.39 million hectares from 1.64 million hectares the prior season. The reduction in area can be attributed to widespread crop wilting forcing area out of corn production. By the end of 2017, corn ending stocks in Zambia registered at 1.28 million tonnes yet they were only 844,244 tonnes as of 1 May, 2018. Gro Intelligence subscribers can use corn production data to monitor supply and demand market trends in Zambia.