This archive report was first published on 10 May 2021.
Days after Tanzania and Kenya agreed to lift unnecessary trade barriers, maize exports from Tanzania to Kenya have yet to restart.
As of yesterday, there were no trucks loaded with maize heading to the border town of Namanga for clearance into Kenya.
"There are none at the border. The exporters have two weeks to resume business," said Mr Lothi Lemeirut, a trader from Namanga, in a phone interview.
Mr Lemeirut, a member of the regional chamber of commerce, suggested that Tanzanian maize traders might be buying time, given the two-week deadline set by President Uhuru Kenyatta to resume exports.
"Maybe we will see maize cargo from next week," he said.
President Kenyatta had ordered the release of stranded lorries carrying maize from Tanzania during a meeting with President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Nairobi this week.
The cargo had been stopped at the border following a March 5 ban on maize imports from Tanzania due to alleged contamination with cancer-causing Aflatoxin.
Speaking in Dodoma yesterday, Tanzanian Minister for Agriculture Prof Adolph Mkenda stated that he had spoken with Kenya's Minister for Agriculture and Fishery, Peter Munya, who informed him that he was on his way to reopen the border.
