Reuters reports that Southern Africa is set to see a bumper maize harvest in 2010. Despite the bumper crop, many countries are still battling to meet their own food needs or secure the long-term output needs.

A joint government-United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report, shows Zimbabwe's maize output is forecast at 1.327 million tons, a fall of 11% from 2009. Zambia expects over 1.9 million tons and Malawi about 3 million tons of maize.

South Africa, the continent's largest producer of the grain, projects total maize output at 13.1 million tons and also plans to export around 4 million tons of its maize surplus.

Zambian officials say they plan to export maize to Kenya, Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana and Zimbabwe, while Malawi also intends to export some surplus maize.