Govt bans unofficial crop estimates

As uncertainty persists over the extent of Zimbabwe's food deficit this season, the government has warned external agencies against carrying out crop assessments. Agriculture minister Joseph Made was reported by state media as saying: "We have information that some multilateral organisations are holding crop assessment meetings in the rural areas without government permission. We wish to make it clear that this is totally illegal, and any rural communities found giving such information will be dealt with severely." Made also suspended the release of periodic crop assessments by his own ministry, reportedly on the grounds they were largely speculative, and said the only legitimate surveys would be those carried out by a special government committee headed by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). However, it was unclear to which multilateral agencies allegedly making crop assessments Made was referring. The last two published independent surveys were conducted by the US-funded Famine Early Warning Network and the US Department of Agriculture. Both forecast deficits, with maize production estimated at between 700,000 mt and 900,000 mt respectively, compared to a domestic demand of 1.4 million mt. "These people are in the rural areas, in all sorts of guises. Crop assessment is the business of the CSO. Anyone who does it outside the confines of that organisation is breaking the law and shall be dealt with," Made told IRIN. The government has, however, invited the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) to participate in a joint crop and food supply assessment mission. FAO was prevented from carrying out similar surveys in 2004 and 2005. Edward Mkhosi, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) shadow minister for agriculture, accused the government of trying to hide the extent of the country's food crisis, which he blamed on the authorities' failure to provide enough fertiliser and seeds to take advantage of the good rains. "Independent assessments will not produce cook-ups - that is why government wants them out," he told IRIN. "The simple fact that there is no bumper harvest in Zimbabwe, that much is not a secret anymore." According to Mkhosi, "The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe released most of the agriculture support funds in January, three months into the farming season. It was too late for anyone to do anything." Fuel shortages and lack of spare parts had also halted tractors, affecting tillage capacity, he noted. Made refused to say whether the country was still expecting a bumper harvest, as predicted earlier. "The national crop assessment has not been done, so I cannot say anything about harvest expectations," said Made. "In terms of government-to-farmer support, there were indeed many inadequacies, but why should farmers expect government to give them everything? We only provide to the needy, not everyone. They should learn to work hard on their own."