Four things Zimbabwe should be aware of to deal with the current drought

Zimbabwe should be aware of four things so that it can effectively deal with the current drought, Lands and Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuku told Parliament on Wednesday. 

• Firstly, the small amounts that we have in our granary.  
• Secondly, the few produce that we are going to harvest.  
• Thirdly, we look at where we can import maize.  
• Fourthly, what can we grow in winter?

Responding to a question on what the government was doing to grow maize and small grains this winter because of the current food shortage, Masuka said: “We saw that if we grow wheat and small grains, farmers will get a lot of money by growing wheat instead of growing small grains in most areas of Zimbabwe.  There are very few places like in Kanyemba, Bulawayo, Beitbridge and Chiredzi, where we can have about 3 200 hectares, which we have identified that people who can grow maize and small grains,” he said.  

“They can harvest more than those who grow wheat.  Those are the small areas that we are targeting but the big hectares are going to be designated for wheat growing.  Those who have irrigation which are complete or almost complete, can use it in winter because we really want to grow large so that our country will have enough food.”

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