Concerns over winter wheat

Prospects are looking grim for Zimbabwe's winter wheat harvest with many farmers unable to plant or tend their crops following equipment theft and foreign currency and fuel shortages. Last year the country produced 230,000 mt of wheat - over 100,000 mt down from the previous year - but indications this year are for a vastly reduced crop of winter wheat and barley, Commericial Farmers Union (CFU) President Colin Cloete told IRIN on Thursday. He said theft of irrigation equipment, transformers and electricity cables was rife, to the extent that the government had banned aluminium exports in a bid to stop the stealing. Zimbabwe's wheat is grown under full irrigation in winter, with most of the water coming from private and state dams and some boreholes. Production in the past has accounted for about two-thirds of the national demand of 400,000 mt. Cloete said farmers have had to overcome chronic diesel and fertiliser shortages brought on by the foreign exchange crisis. The minutes of a CFU meeting last week said farmers were told the country's fuel situation was one of "hand to mouth" and fuel company representatives were unable to give farmers any meaningful advice. Two large fertiliser companies reported they had zero stocks, their product was sold soon after manufacture and back-order lists were lengthy. This was due to the lack of foreign exchange to import ingredients required to manufacture fertiliser, reduced power supplies and transport constraints. Monitored prices also meant manufacturers could not recoup their production costs. "Supplies of fertiliser for the winter cereal crops are very short because of these factors. Even if prices come right there will no extra product," the CFU report said. Cloete added that slow tobacco sales were also quelling hopes of a boost to the country's foreign exchange supplies. As an alternative to scarce maize, many Zimbabwean consumers have substituted bread as a staple. "It there's no wheat, we’ll just have to go without bread. We are really concerned this year," Cloete said. The last Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report said cereals like maize, wheat, millet and sorghum remained in critically short supply in the major markets throughout the country for much of April 2003. A food supply mission is in the final stages of assessing Zimbabwe's cereal production for 2002/3 but early indications are that overall production will be lower than last year. For more details: FEWS-NET: www.fews.net