Zimbabwe to import 300 000 tonnes of maize

Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri

ZIMBABWE is expected to import over 300 000 tonnes of maize this year to avert a potential famine, The Financial Gazette has learnt. 
The Global Agricultural Food Network produced by the USDA Foreign Agricultural Services last week indicated that output for 2018 may have declined by 46 percent from 2,2 million tonnes the previous season.
“Despite a high maize carry-over stock of about
500 000 tonnes, Zimbabwe will still have to import about 300 000 tonnes of maize in the 2018/2019 marketing year. The 46 percent decrease in production will drive Zimbabwe to import maize again in the 2018/19 marketing year.
“This means that the Zimbabwean government will have to lift the import ban that is currently in place,” the report said.
With the success of the 2016/2017 agricultural year government had banned maize imports as the country was sitting on 2,6 million tonnes of maize and other grains. However, the country’s maize harvested area decreased by 36 percent to 1,2 million hectares in the current season and yield output for the 2018/2019 marketing year may be around 1,2 million tonnes.
The decline in the yield per hectare had a negative impact on yield.
“The 2018/19 marketing year’s national average maize yield is estimated at around 0,98 tonnes per hectare compared to 1,2 tonnes per hectare the previous season,” the report said.
In the 2016 marketing year, one of the worst drought years Zimbabwe experienced in the last two decades, the country imported over one million tonnes of maize. Zimbabwe’s maize crop was recorded at 512 000 tonnes.
Some economists estimate that the country has spent at least $3 billion on grain imports since the fast-track land reform programme started in the year 2000..
“The Zimbabwean government stopped issuing corn imports permits in March 2017, as a result of the good harvest. Despite the ban, international and regional imports continued, most likely as a result of unfulfilled import commitments of the previous marketing year. As a result, USDA Foreign Agricultural Services estimates that Zimbabwe imported about 160 000 tonnes of maize last year. Surplus maize was not exported but stored as part of Zimbabwe’s strategic grain reserve.”
Imports were from South Africa, Mexico, Zambia, Mauritius, United Kingdom, Russia and Mozambique.
The 2017/2018 agricultural year was affected by a six-week dry spell from mid-December through the end of January impacting negatively on crop growing conditions. Many fields had permanent damage. The fall army worm also had a negative impact on crop output.
“Cases of fall army worm were also reported on corn and sorghum especially on early and late planted maize. Information on the extent of yield reduction is difficult to obtain, however, the Zimbabwean Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement estimated the affected corn area at about 125 817 hectares (about 10 percent of area planted). Yield reduction estimates by some field extension personnel range from five percent to 15 percent due to the pest,” the report said.
Harvesting and marketing of maize is in progress with the Grain Marketing Board buying at $390 per tonne, the highest price in the southern African region as the market driven and trade markets in South Africa are buying at $155 per tonne.
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