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BLANTYRE, MALAWI —Tanzania has banned imports of soybeans from Malawi to protect its agricultural sector from the presence of the tobacco ringspot virus in that neighboring country.
The Tanzania Plant Health and Pesticide Authority said in a recent statement that its pest risk analysis on soybeans from Malawi has established the presence of the tobacco ringspot virus, which poses significant risk to soybean production in Tanzania.
The virus is highly contagious and can lead to yield reduction and economic losses ranging from 25% to 100% for farmers, the statement said.
Some analysts are calling Tanzania's action retaliatory, as it comes a few days after Malawi banned maize imports from Tanzania and Kenya over maize lethal necrosis disease in those two countries.
Grace Mijiga-Mhango, president of the Grain Traders Association of Malawi, said Tanzania's ban on soybeans from Malawi is not surprising.
"We call it a trade war," she said. "They started the war, and their friends are fighting back."
Tanzania is among the biggest importers of soybeans from Malawi.
In February, Tanzania's high commissioner to Malawi committed to facilitate the purchase of 100,000 metric tons of soybeans from Malawi, worth about $30 million. Agriculture authorities in Malawi say the country harvested about 400,000 metric tons of soybeans in the 2022-23 season.
Mijiga-Mhango said the impact of the ban will go beyond selling soybeans within Tanzania because, she predicted, Tanzania will not allow exports to other countries, especially in the East African market, to pass through it.
Ronald Chilumpha, an expert in crop protection in Malawi, said that a better solution to the diseases could have been reached had Malawian and Tanzanian authorities held discussions before imposing their respective import bans.
"Issues to do with plant diseases or pests - most of these are migratory and they will certainly move from one area to another, even when you have all the controls in place," he said.
"You cannot stop maize from Tanzania coming into Malawi 100%, that's not possible," he said. "It just requires a single grain of contaminated maize."
Tanzania has also banned the introduction of genetically modified maize seeds from Malawi, saying it wants to maintain a non-GMO status in its agricultural practices.
Malawian Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale told VOA via a messaging app that he could not comment on Tanzania's ban.
Malawian Principal Secretary for Ministry of Agriculture Dickxie Kampani said he was engaging experts on crop diseases for details about the presence of tobacco ringspot virus in his country.