Race to distribute maize seeds

Zimbabwe's government on Thursday said it would make every effort to ensure that farmers received maize seed in time for the October/November planting season. According to a senior official, so far the demand for maize seed has outstripped the supply, with an expected deficit of more than 40,000 mt in the 2004/05 agricultural season. Zimbabwe requires more than 100,000 mt of seed for the 2004/05 planting. Government spokesperson Steyn Berejena said the increased demand was mainly due to the agrarian reform undertaken since 2000. "Since the start of the land reform programme there has been a phenomenal demand for maize seed, because there has been more crop cultivation going on. In the past we had one farmer on, for example, a 1,000 ha piece of land. But now we have on average about six new farmers on a piece of land and they are all interested in growing crops, which means more seed is needed," Berejena explained. Earlier this week the official Herald newspaper quoted Seed Co chairman Ray Kaukonde as saying that his company was looking to produce about 26,000 mt of maize seed this year, and had so far released 3,000 mt onto the market. The company, the country's largest seed producer, is to import 19,000 mt of seed maize from Zambia, South Africa, Malawi and Botswana. Seed Co is expected to deliver 17,000 mt of maize seed to the government this season and the Pannar Seed company said that of 4,000 mt of seed produced, 3,900 mt had been offered to the government. Berejena acknowledged that newly resettled farmers, who were in some cases contracted by seed houses to provide hybrid seed maize, had failed to produce adequate supplies. He said the poor showing was due the lack of requisite skills to produce the seed. "Of course, certain skills are needed, but the government has already budgeted millions to support these new farmers," said Berejena. About Zim $20 billion (about US $3.6 million) was recently allocated to the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority and the District Development Fund (DDF) for tillage purposes, while Zim $10 billion was apportioned to the Grain Marketing Board to transport seed and fertiliser countrywide. Questions regarding Zimbabwe's ability to provide maize seed to thousands of newly resettled farmers came in the wake of a wrangle between agricultural experts and the authorities over projections for this year's maize output. The government has forecast a bumper maize harvest of over two million mt since the beginning of the year, but other analysts have consistently warned the crop was likely to be well below national demand. The Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee calculated earlier this year that 2.3 million people in rural areas would require food assistance in the 2004/05 marketing season, with a similar number of urban poor likely to be in need of aid.