Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister, Joseph Made

By Farai Mabeza

CEREAL prices in the country declined in July to their lowest levels in five years on the back of a good agricultural season, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) has reported.
Farmers in maize source areas in the Mashonaland provinces and other high production areas like Gokwe in the Midlands province were selling maize at prices ranging from $0,11 to $0,17/kg.
Average maize grain prices for July in FEWSNET sentinel markets decreased by 32 percent compared to July 2016 prices.
The July 2017 prices are 26 percent lower on the five-year average.
The average maize meal prices for July followed a similar trend, falling by 14 percent from the June levels, dropping nine percent in comparison to July 2016, and 11 percent below the five-year average.
FEWSNET described current food security outcomes across the country as minimal as households across all wealth groups continue to consume own-produced stocks.
From October 2017 to January 2018 most traditional cereal-surplus areas in the north will still maintain minimal outcomes due to the availability of own-produced stocks and relatively better livelihood options.
However, more areas in the south and marginal north will shift from minimal to stressed levels while more critical areas will be in the crisis phase during this period, FEWSNET added.
By July most smallholder farmers had concluded harvests, but maize harvesting activities continued in large-scale and commercial A2 farming areas.
Maize and other crop deliveries to the Grain Marketing Board increased as drying continued and more grain met the stipulated minimum moisture requirements.
Supplies of grain at most rural markets are low due to reduced demand.
However, some traders are buying grain cheaply from farmers in surplus areas and selling in some deficit areas, while others are hoarding the grain for speculative purposes.
Labour demand and wage rates are currently low because most households are consuming own-produced stocks and due to the continued national cash shortages.
Typical livelihood options available to communities in the cereal-surplus north and other areas include crop and vegetable sales as well as on-farm and off-farm casual labour mainly paid in-kind.
In the south, remittances, labour opportunities, and livestock sales continued to be limited.
Maize production in 2017 is officially forecast at a well above-average level of 2,1 million tonnes, significantly higher than the drought-reduced output of 2016.
The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee 2017 Rural Livelihoods Assessment report has called on government to come up with strategies and packages that support farming as a business for smallholder farmers.
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