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Zimbabwe
faced with a food deficit
The
Zimbabwe Guardian
March 05, 2008 http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/117/ARTICLE/1796/2008-03-05.html
President Robert
Mugabe has indicated that Zimbabwe is faced with another food deficit
this year after farmers experienced an acute shortage of fertilizer
and unexpected heavy rains.
Speaking in Chipinge and Beitbridge during his 2008 Presidential
campaign trail yesterday, the president said the government had
already ordered 500 000 tonnes of maize to mitigate against possible
hunger and starvation in the country.
He said prospects of a bumper harvest had been dampened by incessant
rains which fell in most parts of the country in November, December
and January.
The Zimbabwe government had dubbed the current agricultural season,
'The mother of all agricultural seasons' but the non-availability
of fertilizer and other inputs resulted in farmers failing to realize
any meaningful harvests.
A crop assessment report by the Ministry of Agriculture and the
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) which was released yesterday,
revealed that farmers had only received up to 10 percent of the
required fertiliser during the current 2007/8 summer farming season.
The report also notes that producers also failed to meet the targeted
cropping area of 2 million hectares for the staple maize grain mainly
due to shortages of fuel, which along with electricity and foreign
currency marked a devastating economic crisis gripping the country.
"The total expected production from this season may not meet
the expected targets," said the report, compiled after a crop
assessment exercise carried out from February 3-11.
"For this reason there is need to look into contingency plans
for food imports," it said, adding that a final assessment
would be conducted early next month.
Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo was unavailable for comment but
he has previously said Zimbabwe would produce 3 million tonnes of
maize this year, more than the country's needs.
Zimbabwe has recently imported grain from South Africa, Zambia and
Malawi to avoid a food crisis.
Last December, Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi said the food
import bill was expected to more than double in 2007 to US$405 million,
straining the country's scarce foreign exchange resources.
President Mugabe blames Western powers for punitive sanctions he
says have crippled the economy.
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