the much needed foreign currency to import the consignment deal it had signed with Malawi .
The hunger problem will further be worsened as the country in the past few days registered a low wheat production in a period of seven years when it recorded less than 78-000 tonnes of wheat.
Meanwhile aid agencies and other western governments are making frantic efforts to deliver the much needed food aid especially to the drought stricken Matabeland region which ZANU PF has strongly been trying to block as it intends on punishing inhabitants of that region as they voted for MDC in the past elections.
The Grain Marketing Board acting chief executive officer Retired Colonel Samuel Muvuti has confirmed the nature of crisis the country is facing as saying the country was making efforts to have maize delivered from other countries.
“Negotiations for more contracts with other countries are critical as the country intensifies efforts to improve the reserves capacity,” said Muvuti.
Without disclosing the countries targeted, the GMB boss said negotiations were at an advanced stage.
Retired Col Muvuti said the country is currently relying on part of the maize imported early this year.
Since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe launched his land reform exercise viewed by many as a vote catching gimmick the country has been facing year on year droughts which has resultantly led to many fleeing the country to neighbouring South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique or Zambia in search of greener pastures.
An audit supplied by Human Rights Forum has established that the land reform which the government claimed was meant to benefit poor Zimbabweans brought negative results as a reported 10 000 people are reported to have died after they were dissociated from their form of livelihood.
Zimbabwe could again fail to produce enough food during the 2007/08 season unless adequate measures are put in place to address projected input shortages and clear the air over land tenure of newly resettled farmers.
Government Ministers have recently expressed their concern over food shortages as the country was failing to improve the infrastructure needed in order to ensure required production levels.
The three ministries responsible for land reform, agriculture, and water and infrastructural development, respectively say the situation has to be brought to normalcy or else the current drought the country is facing might see more hardship for Zimbabwean population.
They were grilled by the parliamentary committee on the continued decline in Zimbabwe ‘s agricultural production at a time when a lot of money was being pumped by the government into the sector.
Minister of Agriculture Joseph Made recently admitted that Zimbabwe could again face “serious fertilizer shortages” due to a breakdown at one of the country’s major producers of the commodity.
Zimbabwe has over the years experienced shortages of fertilizer and other inputs due to a crippling foreign currency crisis.
The opposition MDC is however pessimistic that the current shortages the country is facing might see Zimbabwean government’s ruling party ZANU PF engaging like in the past in food for votes.
In some parts of the country already the ruling party youths are reported to have started controlling food distribution outlets and at extreme points confiscating food targeted for the sick giving it to ZANU PF supporters which in the long run will see ZANU PF demanding a part card if one wants to buy food from Grain Marketing Board.