In response to the worst drought in a century, South Africa will relax some of its rules on importing GMO corn so it can ramp up supplies of the grain, says Reuters. “The country needs to import about 1.2 millon tonnes of white maize and 2.6 million tonnes of yellow maize, according to the government … with only Mexico and the United States able to plug the shortfall.” South African farmers grow GMO strains but the government limits the varieties that can be imported and usually requires the corn to be transported immediately to mills. A spokesman for the Agriculture Department told Reuters the government would allow sort-term storage of corn at designated warehouses as a way to increase the pace of imports.
Reuters said “shortages of white maize – a staple food for the black majority – could reach crisis proportions by October if expected summer rains do not fall, analysts say.” Corn farmers say the government should approve additional GMO varieties for import. A feed mill operator said the government should set a tolerance level, perhaps 1 percent, for accidental commingling of hybrids in cargo holds to replace the current policy of rejecting any shipment with even the tiniest presence of an unapproved hybrid.
In a follow-up, Reuters said corn imports of 5 million tonnes could cost the government the equivalent of $1.2 billion this year, nearly 10 times the expenditure of 2015. “Food prices will likely rise 10 percent this year due to higher maize imports and a weaker rand,” it said.