Farmers still not paid by GMB (04-01-07)

E – Agricultural experts this week said the failure of the state-run Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to pay communal farmers, who normally produce 60 percent of Zimbabwe’s maize, has been a major contributing factor to the looming food crisis. Observers agree that preventing starvation this year in Zimbabwe will require external help. But with a deepening economic crisis, the Zanu (PF) government has been reluctant to acknowledge the extent of the problem. Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa told parliament recently that 100,000 mts of maize and 60,000 mts of wheat would have to be imported immediately to make up for shortfalls in domestic production.

According to a United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimate in November, Zimbabwe will need to import a total of about 800,0000 mts of maize and wheat to avert starvation and replenish its reserves.

The Zimbabwe Grain Producers’ Association (ZPGA), bringing together mainly white large-scale commercial grain producers, said according to its research the country last season produced 600,000 mts against a total annual requirement of 1.8 million mts of maize. The country needed to import a minimum of 850,000 mts of maize, ZPGA said. “Without these additional imports Zimbabwe will run dry of maize from 1 April, 2007 until the new crop is harvested,” a ZPGA spokesperson said.

Political scientist Rangarirai Ndoro told The Zimbabwean that the government was deliberately downplaying the food shortages for fear that Zimbabweans would hold it’s fast-track land policy responsible.

“For the government to accept figures scientifically produced by local and international food experts that put the food deficit much higher would be accepting a liability,” Ndoro said.

Although the government continues to publicly downplay the possibility of a major food crisis, action on the ground suggests that Mugabe’s administration is taking the threat seriously. The government has banned all exports of basic foods, including the staple maize meal. In another move to increase control over maize and wheat, Mugabe made it illegal to buy or sell the two crops – except through the GMB. The government has also hiked producer prices for maize and wheat in an attempt to stimulate production this year. Meanwhile, in regions with low rainfall, like the Masvingo and Matabeleland provinces, there are already visible signs of food shortages with most families requiring food supplements because they did not harvest enough to feed themselves. But with little external aid forthcoming and dwindling amounts of foreign currency to import food, their plight seems set to worsen.