According to a joint food security update for June published by the
UNs Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme,
UNICEF and the US-funded Famine Early Warning System Network
(FEWSNET), Zimbabwes combined cereal production in the 2009/10 season
is estimated at 1.52 million metric tonnes.
Total maize production is estimated at 1.33 million tonnes, about 500
000 tonnes short of annual domestic requirements of around 1.8 tonnes.
The government has however requested for a CFSAM (Crop and Food
Supply Assessment Joint Mission), the report said.
It said an earlier assessment by the Zimbabwean authorities had
indicated that 29 of the countrys 60 rural districts produced less
than requirements assuming even distribution and a per capita
consumption of 133kg.
Deficit areas are mainly in Matabeleland South, Masvingo, parts of
Midlands and Manicaland provinces, said the report.
FEWSNET warned last month that the 2009/10 harvest in the south of the
country would only last between two to four months.
Post published in: News