Hunger looms large as Zim’s grain reserves continue to fall
By Nomalanga Moyo
25 April 2013
Zimbabwe is on the verge of a severe shortage of grain, reports by two
international development bodies have revealed.
In its latest monthly economic review, the African Development Bank (AfDB)
attributed the situation to a poor harvest and a lack of fertiliser in the
last season.
According to the March report, the national Grain Marketing Board (GMB) had
92,000 tonnes of maize in its reserves, which it had since stopped selling
to millers, reserving it for the grain loan scheme.
“The millers require 150,000 tonnes to meet the consumer demand before the
new harvest lands on the market. This grain shortage has pushed up
maize-meal prices.
“The supply of grain under the grain loan scheme is erratic and
inconsistent. This is because the reserved grain is insufficient and
transporters are not willing to move it to the affected areas, as they are
not paid on time,” the report said.
Farmers’ organisations have forecast total grain harvests this year of about
1.2 million tonnes, with the country’s annual consumption estimated at 2.2
million tonnes.
Zimbabwean traders import maize from Malawi, South Africa and Zambia, but
the costs involved in moving the grain from these countries to Zimbabwe make
it expensive compared to buying it from the GMB. Zambia, which is currently
facing food shortages, has imposed temporary export restrictions on grain.
While the Zambian government had promised that the ban would not affect
exports to Zimbabwe, players in the local milling industry revealed to news
agency IRIN that no grain has been officially coming from Zambia since
December 2012.
In a separate report carried on its website, the United Nations World Food
Program (UNWFP) said the worst was yet to come,” with the peak of the hunger
period, before the next harvests posing the highest level of food
insecurity” in the past three years.
As well as the drought and the shortages of inputs, the UNWFP said farmers
opted to grow crops such as tobacco which have greater and better financial
returns instead of the maize staple, thereby worsening the situation.
Most areas in the country expect poor harvests in the current crop season,
with the majority of the population already surviving on food handouts.
The reports by the UNWFP and the development back agree that at least 2
million Zimbabweans are affected by the food insecurities, a rise of about
60percent from the same period last year.
The AfDB report called on the government to combat the looming disaster by
ensuring “that grain reserves are well stocked and that transporters are
paid on time.
“The government needs to not only intensify the presence of extension
service officers but also their interaction with farmers in drier areas to
encourage them to grow drought resistant crops, such as small grains,” the
body said.
In a statement that will re-ignite the debate around genetically modified
foods in a country that has strongly resisted these, the bank added: “There
is also need to come up with new drought resistant crops that adapt well to
the changing weather conditions in these drier parts of the country.”
In recent weeks, starving villagers across the country have told SW Radio
Africa how ZANU PF is using food as a political weapon against the
opposition by allocating the scarce grain only to its supporters.
Before the ZANU PF government embarked on the chaotic and violent farm
seizures in 2000, Zimbabwe used to be the regional breadbasket, producing
enough for its local needs and exporting its corn surplus.
