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Food security controversy rages on
Charles Rukuni, The Financial Gazette (Zimbabwe)
July 29, 2004

http://www.fingaz.co.zw/fingaz/2004/July/July29/6101.shtml

BULAWAYO - A parliamentary portfolio committee tasked with assessing the current food situation in the country nearly two months ago has not yet met, despite the urgency of the matter.

And it is likely to be reconstituted, with new members coming in, when Parliament resumes sitting on August 11.

The 11-member portfolio committee on lands, agriculture, water development, rural resources and resettlement, chaired by ZANU PF Member of Parliament for Zhombe Daniel McKenzie Ncube, was tasked with investigating the food situation in the country following conflicting reports about the availability of grain.

The government, which has been accused of playing politics of the stomach to force people to vote for the ruling ZANU PF, claims that the country has enough food, while donors and the West insist that Zimbabwe faces a massive deficit.

Parliament asked the committee to investigate the issue after Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) shadow minister for agriculture Renson Gasela asked Agriculture Minister Joseph Made to prove to the nation that Zimbabwe, a former regional bread-basket-turned- basket-case, indeed had enough food.

Made, who government critics maintain should not be trusted as he has misled the nation before over the country’s food security situation, said the portfolio committee, comprising two chiefs and four MDC members, could carry out its own assessment.

Gasela, who is a member of the panel, said the committee had not done anything yet because of the adjournment of Parliament. He said it had, however, written to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), the country’s granary, requesting information but the parastatal had not responded yet.

"They probably don’t have a reply because the situation is pathetic," Gasela, a former general manager of the GMB who joined the MDC after falling out with the government, said.

"Only last week I was in Mhangura, which is the hub of maize growing, and I only noticed something like 10 000 tonnes. The depot there usually handles between 50 000 and 60 000 tonnes and by this time it should have around 40 000 tonnes."

Gasela said the committee’s work could be further delayed because the panel was likely to be reconstituted when Parliament resumes sitting. This meant that some members might be dropped, with others coming in. But he would definitely be in the committee because of his position as a shadow minister for agriculture.

The question about whether Zimbabwe has enough food or not has been tossed around since the beginning of the current marketing year in April.

The government said the country would harvest about 2.4 million tonnes of maize, more than adequate for national consumption.

It allegedly stopped the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) from carrying out an assessment survey of the food situation, leading to an outcry from donors and the West that Zimbabwe did not have enough grain but wanted to use the little available as a political tool ahead of next year’s election.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which was working in conjunction with the WFP, said this year’s maize harvest would only be 708 073 tonnes, against a national requirement of 1.8 million tonnes.

The country would, therefore, have to import 995 927 tonnes and still remain with a deficit of 315 927 tonnes.

The FAO/WFP figures were, however, based on an assessment of three provinces, Mashonaland West, Manicaland and Matabeleland North. The survey said 30-40 percent of the farmers would run out of food from their own stocks by the end of this month (July).

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS), a United States Agency for International Development-funded programme, on the other hand, said about 2.3 million people would require external food assistance of about 178 000 tonnes.

It said 22 of the country’s 57 districts had a deficit. Manicaland had the highest number of food-insecure people while Mashonaland West had the least.

FEWS, however, pointed out that absolute figures obscured the fact that the two Matabeleland provinces had the highest proportion of food-insecure people in relation to their total rural populations.

In his official opening of Parliament last week, President Robert Mugabe insisted that the country had enough food.

"Regardless of what our detractors may be saying or doing, the relatively good agricultural season has given full play to our agricultural potential already enhanced by our land reforms," he said.

"Except in those parts of our country which are traditionally susceptible to precarious harvests, we have, in the rest of the country, managed to reap a good harvest, certainly one good enough to meet our needs and food requirements until the next season."

In an editorial after President Mugabe’s opening of Parliament, Voice of America, said to reflect the views of the United States government, the major donor of maize to Zimbabwe during the past few years, said: "Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s President, says he expects his country will produce more than enough food to feed Zimbabweans this year, with enough left over for export. Mr Mugabe is lying — and Zimbabweans will suffer the consequences."

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