via Crisis-hit Zim receives 700 tons of maize from SA | News24 2014-01-08
Zimbabwe, which is facing the worst food shortages in four years due to drought and a poor harvest, has reportedly received 700 tons of maize as part of the 150 000 tons the government is importing from South Africa.
According to a Herald report, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made confirmed the country had received close to 700 tons of maize and that more grain was expected in the country soon.
Made said the maize would be distributed to different parts of the country for cash sales, while 10% of every delivery would be reserved for the vulnerable such as child-headed families and the elderly.
The country was also expected to receive another 150 000 tons of maize from Zambia soon, according to the report.
The United Nations World Food Programme has since October been working with SA and international aid organisations to provide food assistance to about a fifth of Zimbabwe’s 13 million people until the next maize harvest in March/April.
President Robert Mugabe, re-elected last July in an election rejected as a fraud by his main rival, told a conference of his Zanu-PF party last month that some children had dropped out of school in rural Zimbabwe due to hunger.
Reports in the past have also indicated that hundreds of people in the country’s rural areas were surviving on wild fruit amid intensifying hunger.
COMMENTS
Made must go what has he achieved?, why can’t private firms import maize and sell on the open market?
it is indeed sad that Zimbabwe is forced to import maize but that is what we get for destroying our agriculture and excluding very capable and experienced farmers from the land simply because they are white. Truly, we are the sad part od Sadc
It is indeed very sad that 10 years down the line, after we acquired our land, we still can not grow enough maize to sustain our nation. Sadly, this is a cycle that is going to play itself over and over again for as long as we follow our current policy. We have blamed problems in all areas of the economy on sanctions but what do we honestly need to grow maize :at least just enough to feed Zimbabwe? We have several seed producers still in business and are home to two or more fertilizer and agricultural chemical producers. We have an over capacity of storage space for the grain and more than enough arable land to grow maize. As we speak, if you go to every corner in the cities, there is someone selling roast or boiled cobs as we speak. Where is that maize coming from? Why cant we scale up production in those areas to stock the national granary? If we had our priorities right, would we have non-interpted power supply lines going to VIP homes or to commercial farms for irrigation round the clock? I fully support “organized”, commercial and adequately funded agriculture.
We should be talking of problems delivering grain to GMB because of fuel shortages or problems at NRZ and problems of lack of production.
South Africa is benefiting from our problems immensely with such huge trade imbalance between our two countries that should caught the attantion of our leaders. Not only are we providing SA with cheap skilled labour, we are now their largest market for all and sundry, from milk and eggs and now to maize. Does it still amaze anyone why South Africa will never allow a change of guard in Harare? They’ll cheer Harare on until our entire industry is on its knees and evrything sold in Zimbabwe is “Proudly South African” and sold in a “Proudly South African” owned supermarket chain.