LUSAKA, March 19 (Xinhua) — Zambia has projected to produce about 1.7 million tonnes of maize during the 2023/2024 farming season following a drought that has hit the southern African nation, according to a senior government official.

The country produced 3.3 million tonnes of maize during the 2022/2023 season.

Minister of Information and Media Cornelius Mweetwa said the projected harvest will be from four provinces that had good rains out of the country’s 10 provinces.

In remarks delivered Monday when he appeared on a special interview program on state television, Mweetwa said the projection has been made by the stock monitoring team from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Mweetwa, who is also the chief government spokesperson, said the maize was expected to be available in the next two months, noting that the country currently has 450,000 tonnes of maize in stock.

“I would say that for now, the country is food secure, and there is no need to panic,” he said.

He, however, said the government wanted to plan for the next 15 months’ food needs and would make a detailed report on how much the country would need to be imported after the harvest.

He warned the drought that has affected the country was severe, adding that the country expects impacts on not only poor harvests of crops but shortages of water as well as electricity deficit, which has led to the introduction of load shedding or power cuts.

The drought has affected 84 out of the country’s 116 districts due to the El Nino weather phenomenon, according to the official.