Upbeat about the 2011 harvest
HARARE, 14 January 2011 (IRIN) – Timely access to fertilizers, seeds and
good rains have set Zimbabwe on course for a good harvest, say agriculture
officials.
The Agriculture Minister, Joseph Made, told journalists the area planted
with cereals such as sorghum and maize had increased by thousands of
hectares this season from 2009-2010.
However, he cautioned that a good crop was only expected if rains persisted
during January. Zimbabwe’s Meteorological Services has predicted heavy rains
in the coming weeks.
The area planted with maize was up from 530,000ha in 2009-2010 to 660,000ha
this season, said Made. Other grains had also seen their coverage increase
from 110,000ha to 174,000ha.
In a decade marked by socio-economic instability, food production has begun
to improve in Zimbabwe in the past two years.
A joint mission in 2010 by the UN World Food Programme and Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that after the 2008 season, when
less than 500,000 tons of maize was harvested, production more than doubled
in 2009 and 2010, to 1.27 and 1.35 million tons respectively
Although expensive, maize seeds and fertilizers, unlike in previous years,
have been available in the market.
The pro-ZANU-PF daily newspaper, The Herald, reported in December 2010 that
the government had provided loans worth US$122.2 million to farmers for
support during the 2010-2011 season, with banks providing $286 million to
buy inputs.
More than 900,000 poor households have been given agricultural inputs, noted
the FAO in its latest update.
But FAO said it was concerned about food price increases: between September
and November 2010, the price of maize rose by some 26 percent in the
capital, Harare, after having been stable in the previous months.
The price of maize meal, a staple food, has begun to climb in the past two
months.
An estimated 1.7 million Zimbabweans will face severe food insecurity in the
peak hunger period of January to March 2011, according to the 2011 UN
Consolidated Appeal for Zimbabwe. About 38 percent of the $415 million
appeal will take care of food-related needs – down from 50 percent in the
last appeal for 2010.
The peak hunger period is when crops are planted and nurtured to maturity.
The appeal in December 2010 has received a little more than $680,000 funding
so far, with pledges worth $2.9 million.
Army-worm outbreak
There has been a scare for the agriculturally rich provinces of Mashonaland
Central and East in the north after army-worm caterpillars destroyed more
than 50ha of planted maize. Farmers in the region said it was one of the
most serious attacks in recent years.
The Herald newspaper said the attack threatened national food security, with
another 800ha of planted sorghum, maize and pasture land at risk. But it
quoted an agricultural official, Godfrey Chikwenhere, giving assurances that
they had enough chemicals to deal with the caterpillars.
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]