Zim agriculture in darkness
http://www.financialgazette.co.zw/
Thursday, 16 August 2012 19:48
. . . yet vast opportunities beckon
Nelson Chenga, Staff Reporter
IT is one of the world’s fastest growing agro-businesses that developed from
zero in 1990 to a US$55 billion industry in 2009.
It has the potential of cutting by half Zimbabwe’s fertiliser use and energy
bill. It can also completely eliminate the country’s use of agro-chemicals
many of which are currently being blamed for global warming through their
green house effect on climatic conditions.
While organic farming is as lucrative and attractive as it gets to any
economy anchored on agriculture, Zimbabwe seems to be the least interested
in the technology being driven by new global demands for foods free from
manufactured chemicals as major food consumers of the developed world
increasingly shy away from genetically modified foods (GMOs).
“The problem is that there is an information gap. People don’t have the
correct information,” said Fortunate Nyakanda, the Zimbabwe Organic
Producers and Promoters Association director.
“If people have the correct information and extension services support then
organic farming would grow in the country,” added Nyakanda whose
organisation is currently working with a mere 37 farmers groups, 32 of which
are in Mashonaland East province.
Largely relying on crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest
control, organic farming is a growing worldwide movement that has, for
instance, seen organic food and beverages growth in the United States rise
from US$1 billion in the early 1990s to US$26,7 billion in 2010 according to
the Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey.
The World Organic Agriculture, which monitors and documents developments in
global organic agriculture, also says global organic sales reached US$54,9
billion in 2009, a 7,3 percent increase on the 2008 figure of US$50,9
billion.
Driving this industry are declining global food supplies, climate change and
rising agricultural input costs.
“Industrial agriculture is a root cause of lack of food availability due to
its reliance on foreign aid, external agricultural inputs and food imports
that require a cash economy,” the International Federation of Organic
Agriculture Movements asserts, adding: “Industrial agricultural is not about
feeding the world but maximising profits by producing commodities for
whichever global market pays the most. This is the reason why one billion
people in the developing world are chronically hungry and why over a billion
people in developed countries are obese and suffering from diet-related
diseases.”
Zimbabweans are among the world’s one billion hungry people and this year
1,7 million people need food assistance after the country experienced a
severe mid-season dry spell that affected more than a third of the nation’s
stable maize crop.
Although the country has been experiencing poor harvests since 2000 largely
due to incessant droughts and a chaotic land reform programme, poor input
supplies of especially artificial fertilisers has also greatly affected
yields in small holder farming communities who have been failing to raise
enough capital for inputs owing to the country’s illiquidity. Given Zimbabwe’s
precarious position summed up by a poorly performing economy sinking under a
US$10 billion foreign debt and high food import bill, organic agriculture
offers an enticing escape route.
The growing demand for organic foods in Europe and North America could
partly help to quickly heal the country’s damaged economic spine of
agriculture especially given the fact that the frosty relations between
Zimbabwe and the European Union (EU) are thawing.
“The EU is Zimbabwe’s second largest trading partner and trade figures have
doubled since 2009,” the head of EU Delegation in Zimbabwe, Aldo Dell’Aricia
said recently addressing the country’s captains of industry.
“In 2011, the total trade figures with Zimbabwe amounted to €675 million,
around US$870 million, with a positive trade balance of €212 million,
around US$276 million, in favour of Zimbabwe. In 2011, Zimbabwe exported to
the EU €444 million, around US$577 million, and imported from the EU goods
for a total value of €232 million, around US$301 million.
“The figures show an increase of 46 percent of Zimbabwe’s exports to the EU
and an increase of 20,38 percent of Zimbabwe imports from the EU. The total
trade increased around 36 percent from 2010 to 2011. This shows a recovery
trend initiated in 2010 and the normalisation of trading relations after the
hyperinflation period,” said Dell’Aricia.
Through economic partnership agreements (EPAs), the EU has also introduced a
duty free quota free (DFQF) of all goods to the EU market, tariffs that will
gradually be eliminated over the next 15 years, a period long enough for
Zimbabwe to stand on its own feet particularly since the country is one of
Africa’s most promising emerging economies.
“As EU is a traditional importer of minerals, agricultural products and
other raw materials that are produced by Zimbabwe, EPAs will stimulate the
exports increasing by the making use DFQF access to the EU that remains
Zimbabwe’s major trading partner,” said the EU head of delegation.
Major organic markets included Germany, France, Denmark, Switzerland and
Austria.
Leading organic farming countries include Australia, Germany, Argentina,
China, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain and the United Kingdom.
According to the web-based research engine, Wikipedia, organic crops yielded
much better than conventional crops and withstand severe weather conditions
than conventional crops.
“Contrary to widespread belief, organic farming can build up soil organic
matter better than conventional no-till farming, which suggests long-term
yield benefits from organic farming,” writes Wikipedia adding: “The
decreased cost of synthetic fertiliser and pesticide inputs, along with the
higher prices that consumers pay for organic produce, contribute to
increased profits. Organic farms have been consistently found to be as or
more profitable than conventional farms.”
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme and the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development organic agriculture can be more
conducive to food security in Africa than most conventional production
systems, and that it is more likely to be sustainable in the long-term and
that yields had more than doubled where organic, or near-organic practices
had been used while soil fertility and drought resistance improved.