Back to Index

State assures nation of food security
The Herald
June 29, 2004

http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=33330&pubdate=2004-06-29

THE Government has reaffirmed that the country will be able to achieve national food security this year following internal assessments which indicate that the country will harvest an estimated 2,4 million tonnes of maize this year.

The figure surpasses the annual human consumption grain requirement for the country by 600 000 tonnes.

The reaffirmation comes in the wake of numerous adverse media reports on the food situation in the country.

The Secretary for the Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Lancaster Museka, said in a state while Government was certain that national grain requirements would be met, it was also cognisant of the fact that there would be some variations in the harvest potentials of various districts and provinces.

The districts, he said, were in the southern and western parts of the country.

"In order to guarantee household level food security in all areas, the challenge is for the Government to work out effective and efficient logistics for the movement of grain from surplus to the deficit districts.

"Government will also continue to monitor private inter and intra-regional grain movements so as to optimise the complementarity between the public and private grain movements," he said.

Mr Museka said the fiscal budget has always been allocated resources for the drought relief programme to finance interventions in the traditional food-deficit areas.

He said food needs of the people in these deficit areas would be met through internal food movements and participation in public works programme to be financed through the normal drought relief assistance resources.

In addition to the estimated surplus of 600 000 tonnes, he said, the national reserves would also be cushioned by imports procured during the drought years which were still coming in and harvests of the winter wheat crop.

"Government would, therefore, like to reassure the nation that in this year the country has achieved food self-sufficiency and hence there will be no need for continued food assistance from the international community.

"We will, however, continue to engage our international development partners in the recovery process in the areas of agriculture inputs, water, sanitation, health and education infrastructure and supplies, HIV and Aids," he said.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP