Chad bans grain exports and lifts import duties after drought damages crops

Emergency controls on staple foods

Chad has banned exports of six agricultural products and removed import duties from several staple foods after drought and extreme heat damaged crops. Decrees issued on September 9 prohibit exports of millet, maize, rice, sorghum, wheat and cotton seed. A parallel measure exempts wheat, maize, millet, rice, animal feed and agricultural equipment from import duties and taxes. The government presented the steps as safeguards against domestic shortages rather than a permanent change in trade policy.

Agriculture Minister Keda Ballah said the central, eastern and northern parts of the country were the most severely affected. Authorities are also supporting irrigated, off-season cultivation to replace part of the lost rain-fed harvest. The policy combines immediate market intervention with an attempt to expand supply, but its success will depend on import availability, transport capacity and whether late-season rainfall improves conditions for crops planted after earlier delays.

FAO warns that the harvest remains uncertain

A September 7 assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization independently documented the underlying agricultural shock. FAO reported rainfall deficits during planting, delays of up to one month in the onset of rains in parts of the Sahelian zone and recurring dry spells from July to mid-August. Satellite observations showed poor vegetation in several provinces, while high fuel prices and limited access to fertiliser were increasing production and transport costs.

The same FAO assessment estimated that about 3.18 million people, or 17 percent of the analysed population, faced severe acute food insecurity during the June-August lean season. Roughly 241,000 were classified in the emergency phase. Those figures predate the government's new decrees and should not be interpreted as a projection of their impact, but they explain why officials moved before final harvest results were available.

Trade-offs and regional pressure

Export restrictions can retain grain within national markets, although they may also reduce farmers' access to higher prices and shift demand toward neighbouring states. Removing import taxes may lower the landed cost of food and farm inputs, but the benefit to consumers will depend on exchange rates, logistics and competition among traders. Chad is landlocked, making transport expenses and reliable regional corridors unusually important to the effectiveness of any tariff intervention.

The next indicators will be market prices, the volume and timing of imports, and the performance of irrigated off-season crops. Rain forecast for September and October could aid late-planted fields, but FAO cautioned that its distribution will determine whether recovery is meaningful and that heavier rainfall may create local flood losses. The government will therefore have to manage both immediate food availability and continuing uncertainty over the final cereal harvest.