Maize shortages

The Commercial Farmers Union in Zimbabwe said it was concerned that the country would have to import close to 400,000 mt of maize to meet the country’s consumption needs. A union spokeswoman told IRIN on Tuesday that in spite of the deficit, farmers would still be likely to export some of their crop. Although there was a similar grain deficit situation last year, she said farmers had nevertheless exported an estimated 220,000 mt mainly to neighbouring Zambia, and to Malawi. Citing figures largely in agreement with those published in the June report of USAID’s Food Early Warning System (FEWS), she said the union expected a crop size of about 1.5 million mt by April next year, while the country would require for its consumption 1.89 million mt. The union, like FEWS, also noted that since November last year the government had paid the equivalent of US $138 per tonne for imported grain which it then sold to millers for US $75 per tonne. “This is a problem for the Grain Marketing Board because it appears that the government has not made a commitment to pay for this subsidy,” she said. “In effect it meant that millers were pulled out of the market and this had a negative effect.” The union was concerned that such interventions by the government would hit producer confidence and turn more farmers towards more lucrative hard currency earners like tobacco.