Harare, (New Ziana) – Maize imports of 300 000 metric tonnes by the government are expected to start arriving in the country this month as part of efforts to mitigate the impact of the El-Nino induced drought griping the country, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Zimbabwe and the rest of the Southern African region are reeling from a devastating drought which has forced SADC government leaders to make an appeal for US$5.5 billion in food aid. Separately Zimbabwe has appealed for US$3.3 billion to mitigate the food deficit and build resilience to deal with future emergencies.

Briefing the media on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister, Dr Jenfan Muswere said his Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development counterpart, Dr Anxious Masuka had presented Cabinet with a report on the food security outlook to March 2025 and the 2024 winter cereals plan.

The report indicated that maize and traditional grains intake by the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) for the season is estimated at 210 000mt, based mainly on the projected 150 000mt deliveries from the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) and 60 000mt from the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) contracted farmers with the intake to date standing at 9 290.

The projected wheat intake is also 300 000mt largely based on the 60 000ha funded under the ARDA facility.

Since the start of the grain marketing season at the beginning of last April, Dr Muswere said the private sector had imported about 185 000mt of grain made up of 168 000mt of maize and 17 000mt of wheat.

“To boost maize reserves, the private sector has indicated a capacity to import 1million metric tonnes as part of efforts to mitigate the effect of the drought experienced during the 2023/24 agricultural season,” he said adding that government has distributed 53 826mt of grain under the Social Welfare Programme.

New Ziana