Malawi, Lilongwe – He was young, so Enok Dayton made a living from the bananas. The 30-year-old was born and raised in Morele, in the Malawia district of southern Tiyoro, which was at the heart of local banana production until the plant virus destroyed the crops more than a decade ago.
At his stall at Mukesi Market in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital, Dayton serves customers of the bundle of green bananas he has. “I started this business when I was younger. We had a farm that grew bananas. We take the truck and bring it here and sell it to individuals,” he told Al Jazeera.
But in 2013, the fatal banana constriction top disease wiped out almost every crop in the country. Farmers were asked to uproot the banana plants to avoid the spread of the virus. Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), bananas are Malawi’s fourth largest staple crop, after corn, rice and cassava.
The UN agency, which is working with other organizations to help the United Nations revive the banana agriculture, said in 2023 that “with proper investment and strategic support, the banana sector could bring significant benefits to growers, transporters, consumers and food processors on food and nutritional security and commercial value.”
In the meantime, however, to keep their business in the absence of sufficient local produce, farmers and fruit vendors like Dayton turned their eyes to neighboring Tanzania, importing crops and supplementing their own local supplies. For example, in 2023 alone, Malawi imported bananas worth $491,000. The rest came from South Africa and Mozambique.
However, this year, the arrangement suddenly stopped. In March, Malawi said it had temporarily banned the import of some agricultural products, including bananas, from Tanzania and other countries. The government said this is to support local industries and stabilize the country’s foreign exchange shortage.
But Malawi may have underestimated the impact of that bold move, observers say.
In retaliation, in April, Tanzania banned the entry of all agricultural imports from Malawi, responding to what it described as a restriction on its exports. The ban was extended to South Africa, which for many years banned the entry of bananas from Tanzania.
This was bad news for Malawi, says the observer. Because it is on the receiver of trade between neighbors. According to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), Malawi exports under $50 million to Tanzania, including soybean diets, soybeans and dried legumes, and imports hundreds of millions of dollars in the form of mineral fuels, petroleum, distilled products, soaps, lubricants, cement and glass products.
In response, Dar es Salaam went a step further and expanded the trade ban to export fertilizer from Tanzania to inland Malawi. He also threatened to stop passing through Tanzania on his way to Malawi.
On track and field, Malawi relies on Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. Due to lack of direct access to the ocean, Malawi uses seaports in Tanzania and Mozambique. However, conflict-related unrest, recent post-election violence and instability in Mozambi croot by truck drivers facing harassment have made the deadlock with Tanzania a major challenge for the industry. Companies relying on agricultural imports began crying for fouls as ground nuts and other agricultural trucks lined up at Songwe’s border.
Malawi also has become a tricky situation as it relies on Tanzania for its ports to import fuel.
Soon, even Kenya was caught up in a conflict as cargo from Malawi, which had to travel through Tanzania, also stopped halfway through.
Subsequent columns shed light on Malawi’s unstable geographical location, regional agreements aimed at promoting trade, efforts to follow rules by individual states, and the macroeconomic imbalances of the country designated as one of the world’s poorest people.
A spokesman for the Malawi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said after weeks of tension, a high-level meeting between Malawi and Tanzania appeared to have mediated differences and opened a way to lift the ban between the two countries.
“Symptoms of a major challenge”
For Ernest Tindowa, a political commentator based at the University of Malawi, recent trade conflicts are isolated and not present, and should also be seen from a political lens.
Both countries are heading for the first Malawi poll this year in September and Tanzania in November. Within the election environment, the conflict speaks something about leaders of both countries’ efforts to demonstrate patriotism and a sense of empowerment towards citizens, analysts said.
“Current government [in Malawi] Thindwa told Al Jazeera. “And they certainly need to make sure local producers are protected,” he told Al Jazeera.
Thindwa said both Malawi and Tanzania are signatories of regional and international trade agreements, and the framework gives them the right to take steps to protect their trade interests when they deem necessary.
However, he questioned the timing of these moves and asked why the Malawi initiative was not implemented previously to actually protect the local industry.
Answering his own question, he said, “Because it may not have been an agent in terms of attracting votes.”
“What you call a self-sufficient or small producer is important to the government in that you are trying to win votes from such social groups,” he observed.
Meanwhile, in Tanzania, something similar was working in the decision to retaliate, Thindwa said.
“The incumbent government in Tanzania hopes to be seen to be in response to the needs and interests of its citizens. Therefore, that country’s government in Tanzania wanted to project an image that it values people. That’s how it responded quite quickly.”
Broadly speaking, Thindwa noted that trade disputes point to the overall challenges faced by African countries.
Citing the example of Angola, he said that countries within the South African Development Community (SADC) bloc continue to import oil from the Middle East, despite it having oil.
“We have Angola,” he said. “For example, it is much cheaper for the region to be able to bring together local projects and invest in the ability to make sure that the final product is being produced in Angola and Angola.
Such examples show that “despite these trade protocols, Africa still struggles to encourage trade between member states,” he said.
“So, in Tanzania and Malawi, it is merely a symptom of the major challenges Africa faces in terms of promoting internal trade.”
Tension has been relieved
In a statement on May 9, Malawi’s Ministry of Trade said that Malawi and Tanzania had bilateral discussions in Tanzania over the implementation and resolution of the prohibition order.
A letter from the ministry, which was subsequently addressed to the Malawi revenue authorities, read:
After the talks, Malawi’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Charles Nkaramba told Al Jazeera that his neighbors had signed a “cooperative communica” to resolve the dispute between them.
The “high-level discussion” was the result of “robust diplomatic efforts” by the two countries’ foreign ministries, he said in a message on WhatsApp, adding that Tanzania also “approved.”[ed] “Economic situation requiring import restrictions.”
During the meeting, the parties agreed, in principle, on the importance of ongoing involvement and communication on all issues affecting bilateral trade relations, Nkhalamba added.
A few weeks ago, Tanzania’s Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that Lilongwe had reached out to Dar es Salaam to resolve the issue, and issued a statement saying, “Tanzania has lifted its ban on the export and import of agricultural products to Malawi.”
As a rule, the trade war between neighbors appears to be stagnant for now.
However, experts told Al Jazeera that, in fact, it would take time for logistics to be sorted out and it would take time for them to return to normal for sellers left in Limbo when supplies run out.
At Lilongwe’s market, Dayton is eagerly waiting for a sweet banana truck across the border, so he is enough to sell to his customers.
He is grateful for cross-border trade, and over the years helped businessmen like him make money by selling crops from their neighbors.
However, he had mixed feelings as he remembered their lost opportunity to grow his crops.
“The amount we had when we grew our bananas is different from what we’re making right now,” Dayton said. “While we grew and bought them at low prices… we were making a lot of money besides transport. [costs]. Tanzania’s are very expensive.
“The bananas need to come back.”
Ten years ago, Dayton was a victim of a natural disaster. Now he feels he is the victim of a decision made by authorities in a remote office.
“What we want is a steady supply of bananas in this market,” he said. “It’s good because it also offers it to our families and our customers.”
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