Christmas demand leads to maize shortages

Dealers in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, temporarily ran out of maize just before Christmas as shoppers heading for their rural homes stocked up.

According to news reports, the shortages led to fears of famine in Matabeleland. However, a local journalist told IRIN on Monday that the situation had returned to normal. He said a number of trucks had been seen arriving in the region, and while some grain storage facilities still seemed to be empty, the shops had enough mealie meal.

Presidential spokesman George Charamba said Matabeleland was traditionally a maize deficit area and was experiencing the kind of shortages it normally experienced in the rural areas during the lean season.

Peasants and farmers in Matabeleland and in other southern parts of Zimbabwe have been severely affected by floods and drought this year. In addition, maize production in other parts of Zimbabwe have been hampered by farm invasions led by ZANU-PF supporters.

Charamba told IRIN, however, that maize supply had stabilised since the government increased the amount it was paying farmers from about US $188 a metric tonne to about US $282 about two weeks ago. Before that, he said, a number of communal and commercial farmers were withholding their maize from the government in protest of low prices.

Charamba said it was estimated that the 300,000 mt of maize the government intended to import would be enough to see the country through to the next harvest season. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is in the final stages of drafting food distribution plans to ease hunger in areas hardest hit by shortages. According to a WFP official, the agency hoped to begin distribution early in January.