Grain producers allay maize shortage fears

Vanessa Mckay, the administrator at the Zimbabwe Grain Producers’ Association was quoted in news reports on Tuesday as saying that it was still too early to paint a grim picture of the maize situation in Zimbabwe, although there was a 30 percent reduced hectarage of the crop.

“We already have a serious rainfall shortage in the Midlands, Matabeleland, Masvingo and Manicaland, but we hope to secure a good maize crop from our green belt in Mashonaland West, East, Central and the northern part of the country,” said Mckay. She added that if Zimbabwe received good rains in the next two months, the maize situation would improve. Meanwhile, Canaan Dube, the chairman of the Grain Marketing Board, (GMB) was quoted as saying that the parastatal had over 600,000 mt of maize in stock.