Tanzania Bans Agricultural Import From South Africa and Malawi

Tanzania has officially banned the importation of agricultural products from South Africa and Malawi, citing retaliatory action against what it describes as unfair trade restrictions imposed by both countries.

Despite being member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the trade row has escalated after Malawi and South Africa barred several Tanzanian agricultural exports. Malawi’s ban covers key goods such as maize flour, rice, ginger, and bananas, while South Africa recently prohibited the import of Tanzanian bananas shipped from Dar es Salaam.

Tanzania’s Minister of Agriculture, Hussein Bashe, made the announcement in a video shared on his official X (formerly Twitter) account late Wednesday. He noted that Tanzania had given both countries until Wednesday to lift their bans on Tanzanian goods—an ultimatum that was not met.

“I would like to officially announce that from this night … we won’t allow any agricultural products from South Africa in our country,” Bashe declared, adding that Malawi will face the same restriction.

In addition to the import bans, Tanzania will block the transit of agricultural goods through its territory to landlocked Malawi and suspend the export of Tanzanian fertilizers to the country.

Bashe emphasized that while diplomatic discussions will continue, the immediate priority is to protect Tanzania’s agricultural sector and national business interests.

“We are taking this measure to protect our business. This is business, and we should all respect each other,” he said.