Agriculture and Food Security
Agriculture is the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy, contributing between 14-17% of GDP, major export earnings and a source of raw materials to industry. Unilateral coercive measures resulted in a sharp decline in agricultural investment, negatively affecting agricultural productivity and overall production. That is why you see now, having realised that for a country to function, we need food. The President guided Treasury to say we need to invest a lot in food security. Even if you check our National Development Strategy One (NDS1), food security is a priority area and we have done investments in water. The issue is not about the dam or water, but what are you going to use the water for? If you check the dams that have been constructed to cover industrial development, agriculture, food security…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Chiduwa, you are left with five minutes.
HON. SHAMU: I propose that the Hon. Member be given more time.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Chiduwa, I am sorry we are running out of time. We are supposed to adjourn at five o’clock so that we give our Members time to go through the budget analysis report. We want to adjourn at 5 o’clock exactly so we cannot give you more time. You are only left with five minutes.
HON. CHIDUWA: The production of maize, sorghum, millet and other cash crops continued to trend downwards since 2000. Maize yields declined from a peak of 1.2 metric tonnes (MT) per hectare (ha) in 2000 to an average of 0.749 MT/ha to date. Between the periods 2010 – 2016, the proportion of food insecure people increased from as low as 6% before the unilateral coercive measures were imposed, to a high of 42% in 2016. Zimbabwe, which used to be the bread basket of the Southern Africa region, is now a net importer of agricultural produce. Maize imports increased from as low as 876 MT in 2001 to as high as 308 267 MT in 2017. Wheat imports also increased from 5000 MT in 2002 to as high as 276 776 MT in 2018.
The unilateral coercive measures damaged the image of the country through negative perceptions by the international community, making it extremely difficult to access international agricultural financing. This has resulted in lack of development, rehabilitation, modernisation and deterioration of production and marketing infrastructure, ultimately reducing productivity and access to markets. There was a decline in the number of functional tractors from 14 000 to 6 000 against a national requirement of 40 000 units. The combine harvesting capacity declined from 300 units to 130 functional units against national requirement of 400 units. There is a shortage of cold storage infrastructure around the country. The state-of-the-art packing houses which are required to facilitate exports to European markets are also limited. Additionally, the number of functional irrigation schemes declined from 275 000 ha to less than 206 000 ha due to lack of repair and maintenance, rehabilitation and modernisation. Zimbabwe has the potential to irrigate up to 2 million ha.
AGRIBANK, the major agricultural financing institution, is not able to finance agriculture due to lack of offshore lines of credit. CBZ Bank, another significant financier of Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector, is also under unilateral coercive measures, which are negatively affecting its ability to access international lines of credit.
Previously, farmers used to export horticulture produce to The Netherlands and the UK. However, access to these markets was restricted, resulting in a significant decline in the horticulture industry. By 2005, horticulture exports had gone down to about USD72 million, with the value further tumbling to USD40 million by 2009. The horticultural industry’s contribution to the GDP fell from about 4.5% before the year 2000 to the current 0.8%.
Similarly, under the Convention on Beef and Veal Protocol, Zimbabwe had a preferential tariff quota which allowed it to export 9 100 MT of beef into the EU annually. Under the Sugar Protocol, Zimbabwe’s preferential tariff quota stood at 30 225 MT annually. It could increase its sugar quota by a further 25 000 MT under the variable Special Preference. All the quotas were scrapped due to unilateral coercive measures imposed on Zimbabwe.
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