Elita Chikwati, Harare Bureau

A TOTAL of 10 000 tonnes of wheat headed for Zimbabwe arrived in Maputo last Thursday with 1 770 tonnes of drought relief maize having been dispatched to Harare on the Beira route last week, as Government intensifies imports to meet the national requirement.

The maize being moved from Mozambique is part of the grain imported by Government from Tanzania.

Government is also importing an average of 120 tonnes of maize from South Africa through Beitbridge Border Post daily, as part of efforts to avert hunger, as the serious drought caused by El Nino weather pattern engulfs Southern Africa.

The grain imports are part of measures meant to mitigate effects of the 2018/19 summer cropping season drought, which saw the country producing 773 635 tonnes of maize against a national requirement of 2,2 million tonnes for both human and livestock consumption.

The situation has been made worse this year as the dry spells that were experienced in the first half of the 2019/20 season affected crops in most parts of the country further worsening the food situation.

Commenting on the movement of grain being imported from Tanzania to Zimbabwe via Mozambique, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Mozambique, Retired Lieutenant General Douglas Nyikayaramba said as of last Friday, the last 18 wagons carrying 540 tonnes of the drought relief grain from the first vessel had been cleared in Maputo for Chicualacuala.

“The current challenge is on the slow turnaround of wagons from Bulawayo to Maputo. To date only 35 wagons were reported to be at Chicualacuala destined for Maputo but unfortunately they were without their tarpaulins. Currently, 59 wagons (1 770 tonnes) have been been dispatched to Harare via the Beira route while a balance of 197 wagons (5 910 tonnes), is yet to be railed from Beira.