Zimbabwe not panicking about maize shortage- says will buy from local farmers first

We have around 200 000 metric tonnes within our strategic grain reserve at GMB. We also have allowed importers; Grain Millers association and all the millers to import what they can for the private sector.  So what we are currently undertaking is an exercise to assess the projected harvest.  Once we have that, we will be able to say what is the deficit and then we come up with programmes to ensure that we close the gap.  One of the immediate decisions that Cabinet did was, we have several water bodies, and in fact, we have over 10 000 water bodies in the country. 

The immediate solution that Cabinet agreed upon is to ensure that we put a bigger area under wheat this season, so that we can substitute the use of maize with wheat or we can do swap deal, whichever will be applicable, so that we ensure that we will remain food self-sufficient.  As a country, we are not panicking, we know that we have got the capabilities to ensure that we do that.  Over and above that, we are undertaking a programme to ensure that we drill boreholes in every village that we will install solar systems and water systems so that our villagers can grow crops that will augment what the Government will be giving them.  The measures that Government is putting in place will ensure that even those that have appetite of reaping our people, will find the market sufficiently stocked or our people growing sufficient grain to ensure that we go past this El Nino phase.  What is expected from those that do weather forecasting is that the next season will actually be normal or above normal.  We need to put in place measures to mitigate this gap that we have for this current season that we are about to harvest.  I thank you.

HON. SEN. R. NDLOVU: My question is that we heard that the Committee on Agriculture went out to our silos and found out that there was nothing in our silos, yet the Government is saying our silos have maize for the entire season.  How far true is that Hon. Minister?

HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. President.  I want to thank the Hon. Sen. for that question.  If the Committee went out looking for maize in silos, I think they were misleading themselves.  Government indicated that within the strategic reserves, be it in grain bags or in silos, we have around 230 metric tonnes of maize.  We also know from the surveys that we have done that several of our farmers did not deliver all their maize to GMB this past season because Government adopted liberalised approach to marketing of grain.   In other words, the private sector was also allowed to buy maize.  We know the amount of maize that was bought by the private sector.  We actually have an estimate of what we believe is there within the farming community.  That is the reason why I also indicated that Government has actually incentivised to say that instead of us importing from outside, why not offer our farmers, whom we know have their maize stocked up, the import parity price, so that we buy from them and we empower them as opposed to  importing first.

We have a lot of maize to the tune of about 245 metric tonnes, there about, within our GMB.  However, I have not received that Committee report which indicates that we do not have maize in our silos.  I think it is premature to start to discuss a Committee report that has not been tabled, neither have they finalised themselves because if it has been finalised, it would have been tabled.  I think let us hold our horses, wait for the specifics of that report and we can then be able to interrogate whether that is the actual situation obtaining on the ground.

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