Harare, (New Ziana) – The country has enough grain to last up to the next harvest in two months’ time, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere has said.
The government is supporting about 9 million food insecure people in both rural and urban areas with food aid after Zimbabwe and the rest of the Southern African region, were hit by a devastating el-nino induced drought that ran through the 2023/2024 cropping season.
From a bumper cereals harvest of 2.5 million tonnes in the 2022/23 season, the country only managed 744 271 metric tonnes during the 2023/24 season, a 77 percent reduction in production.
Briefing the media on an update Cabinet received from the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka on Tuesday, Dr Muswere said current grain stocks at the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) are enough to meet the needs of the food insecure rural communities up to the next harvest in April.
In the report on the food security outlook to next March and the 2024/2025 summer cropping season plan, Dr Masuka detailed that the grain at the GMB of 1 349 877mt comprises 1 127 411mt of maize, 220 092mt of wheat and 374mt of wheat flour imported by the private sector from last April 2024 to February 2 this year.
Meanwhile the government has issued 1 021 maize import permits for the importation of five million metric tonnes while it continues to monitor volumes of imports, stocks at millers, import prices and import sources in order to eliminate arbitrage opportunities.
The 2024/2025 Summer Season Plan aims to increase production of cereals to 3.2 million metric tonnes, from the 744 000mt produced during the 2023/2024 summer season.
Cabinet wishes to advise that preliminary data shows that about 99% of the maize area targeted for the 2024/2025 season has been planted,” said Dr Muswere adding that the statistics-led first round crops, livestock and fisheries assessment being finalised will give the accurate extent of the crop plantings.
“Under the Presidential Input Scheme, the farming sector has achieved 11.4 million plots from a targeted 9.5 million plots, which translates to 20% above target and 16% above the 2023/2024 season performance of 9.8 million plots. The total area planted under cotton is 203 875 hectares, reflecting a 40% increase from the 145 265 hectares recorded in the 2023/2024 season,” he said.
“Regarding tobacco, 127 000 growers have registered for the 2024/2025 season, reflecting a 10% increase from the 115 000 growers registered at the same time in the 2023/2024 season. Of the registered growers, 92% are participating under contract. Under the Tobacco Food Security Initiatives, all tobacco merchants are supporting their contracted tobacco farmers with maize and sorghum inputs. The total planted area for tobacco is 132 851ha, which translates to 16% above the 2023/2024 season performance.”
New Ziana
