440 000t maize, wheat in reserves

Source: 440 000t maize, wheat in reserves | The Herald

From George Maponga in Masvingo
Government has mobilised 440 000 tonnes of maize and wheat that are stocked at various GMB silos countrywide in efforts to ensure the nation has adequate food until the next harvest. There are 336 000 tonnes of maize in the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) that was mobilised through imports and supplies from local farmers. The GMB has wheat stocks of 104 000 tonnes that were delivered by local farmers for onward selling to millers.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development responsible for cropping, Davis Marapira, yesterday said Government wanted SGR maize stocks to reach 500 000 tonnes.

He said the importation of maize and wheat was a continuous process. “Government is fighting hard to build maize stocks in the Strategic Grain Reserve to 500 000 tonnes and the imports are coming from Zambia and other countries such as Mexico,’’ he said.

‘’The wheat that we have in our stocks is sold to millers but the country still needs to import better quality wheat to blend with what is locally produced by our farmers,’’ he added.

Deputy Minister Marapira said so far 422 000 tonnes of maize had been imported since the beginning of the year with part of the grain being distributed to mitigate the effects of the El-Nino induced drought.

Maize deliveries to GMB by local farmers stood at nearly 214 000 tonnes while wheat deliveries was at nearly 94 000 tonnes, he said. Besides Government and private players, donor organisations were also importing maize to help alleviate the effects of hunger following poor harvests in the last farming season.

Zimbabwe has been importing food mainly from Zambia after widespread crop failure in the region that was blamed on the effects of global warming that induced El-Nino.