After a difficult year in 2019, marked by cyclone Idai which destroyed more than 70 000 hectares of maize crops, production prospects for this cereal look much better in 2020. In a press release published on Thursday, February 20, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated that it expects the harvest to increase by 8.8%, thanks in particular to the abundant and well-distributed rains observed between November and January, the period favourable to crop growth. This is good news for this small southern African country, heavily dependent on agriculture (80% of the working population and two-thirds of export earnings) and among the poorest in the world ($370 per capita GDP).