“This (decline) is because of dry spells experienced in some parts of the country and the armyworm invasion,” Mwanamvekha said.

Malawi produced 3.5 million tons of corn in the 2016/17 season but banned exports of its staple crop earlier this year and said it was considering restocking its national grain reserves.

Armyworms are a pest from Latin America that first threatened African crops late in 2016, while drought is a perennial threat to the impoverished Southern African country.

Mwanamvekha said it was too early to predict 2018/19 agricultural output, but there could be significant reductions in the yields of most of Malawi’s major food crops, which include cassava, peanuts, and sorghum.

Malawi relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture, and most of its corn is grown on small plots by subsistence farmers.