South African maize farmers are going to suffer as long as there are only limited markets for the country’s grain and maize prices lie below the costs of production, an industry official said.
South Africa, the continent’s largest producer of maize, this year expects to harvest the largest crop since the record 14.42 million tonnes crop reaped in the 1981/82 season, which is seen affecting maize prices in Africa’s biggest economy.
Jane McPherson，产业集团农民发展经理 谷物SA, said low prices and higher input costs would hurt farmers’ ability to service debts and re-invest.
“We need to be able to expand our market for grains,” she told an Agribusiness Investment Summit in Durban.
“The farmers cannot afford to borrow because the price of producing is too high,” she said.
团结工会上周警告玉米危机，如果玉米产量不大幅减少，可能会导致农民失去农场。
South Africa expects to produce 13.094 million tonnes of maize from the 2009/10 crop, the government’s Crop Estimates Committee (CEC) said. South Africans consume between 8-9 million tonnes of the staple each year.
“We need to look at protection from dumping, we need to look at biofuels, so we can expand our markets,” McPherson said.
南非农民希望政府允许在生物燃料生产中使用玉米，以降低能源成本并帮助种植盈利。
The government unveiled blending ratios for biofuels years ago but said maize, South Africa’s staple food, could not be used in the production of biofuels in order to ensure food security and keep a lid on high prices.
南非已确保本季向国外市场销售约400万吨剩余玉米，以保障玉米价格，但麦克弗森表示，这还不够，而且出口还存在基础设施限制。
“We can’t export it (surplus maize) because our railways cannot handle it,” she said.
分析师表示，缺乏适当的基础设施、有限的跨境铁路和高昂的物流成本是阻碍该行业投资的一些主要挑战，需要私营和公共部门之间建立伙伴关系，以开辟整个非洲的运输走廊。
(资料来源：路透社非洲)