Government, NGOs must step up efforts ahead of another poor crop

The Zimbabwe government and NGOs need to step up efforts to provide food aid to about 6.7 million people whose food security is under threat in the face of vastly reduced crop estimates for next year, the Famine and Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS-NET) said on Tuesday. While agriculture has formed the base of the Zimbabwean economy, contributing 45 percent of export earnings and providing livelihoods to over 70 percent of the population, researchers found that farmers had only secured 20 percent of the estimated Zim $160 (US $2.9 billion) needed to finance agricultural activities for the 2002 to 2003 production year. If a planned Zim $60 billion (US $1.1 billion) Agribond issue raised enough capital, the agricultural funding gap could be reduced to 42 percent, the report said. However, response to the bonds was expected to be "lukewarm" and funding from wary commercial banks was unlikely to close the deficit. Wheat production at 212,000 mt was the lowest since 1991 and only 62 percent of last year's production. The poor yield would require imports to alleviate shortages from April to the next harvest in October 2003, FEWS-NET said. Maize imports up to March 2003 would only provide 73 percent of the country's monthly maize requirements, leaving a food gap of about 256,000 mt to meet the total 2002 to 2003 consumption requirement of 1.6 million mt. The report recommended that the maize marketing system allow more private sector participation to increase supplies and lower prices. Adding to farmers' woes, the moderate El Nino conditions were expected to expand to establish basin-wide mature El Nino conditions between December and February. Past data had shown that this could be accompanied by a drop in rainfall in the south of the country and a reduction in crop yields by between 20 to 40 percent. Although the country had enough hybrid maize seed for a 14 percent increase in the hectares planted, last year's bad crops and the controversial land reform programe - which saw thousands of commercial farmers evicted - had left a shortage of seed for sorghum, millet, pulses, beans and groundnuts, which were traditionally held over by farmers. The price of groundnut and sunflower seeds rose by 150 percent, sugar beans by 300 percent and soyabeans by 375 percent, making it more difficult for farmers. FEWS-NET also warned of an impending shortage of fertilisers. Phosphate was scarce because rail transport was stretched by food deliveries, forcing the use of more expensive road transport. Calcium and supplementary ammonia supplies were imported, leaving companies at the mercy of foreign currency shortages and fluctuating exchange rates. However, the government had tried to alleviate the shortages by allocating foreign currency to the fertiliser companies, the report said. If these shortages were not addressed by the provision of foreign currency by the government, it would result in a further reduction of harvests in the 2002-2003 season. Significant drops were expected in the flue-cured tobacco harvest for next year, which contributes about 29 percent of the country's total export earnings as well as valuable foreign currency and 9 percent towards GDP. While the country comes to grips with escalating food costs and shortages, the National NGO Food Security Monitoring Network reported high levels of population movement in search of work, land and food through the districts of Matabeleland and Mashonaland central provinces in August and September. There was also a prevalence of internally displaced people in Matabeleland south and Mashonaland central. World Food Programme spokesman Luis Clemens told IRIN that in response to the countrywide food crisis the organisation had distributed more than 20,000 mt of food aid to over two million people in 20 districts in October. "In November we hope to increase that to more than 30 districts and reach three million people depending on the availability of food," he said.