Gvt attempts to salvage season ‘too little, too late’

While Zimbabwe needs about two million tonnes of maize per year to feed its population, it is unlikely to harvest more than 600 000 tonnes this year, the opposition MDC has said.

Dismissing claims by the government that it was doing its best to address the acute fertilizer shortage that has ruined this farming season, Renson Gasela — the MDC agriculture secretary in the Mutambara faction — told The Zimbabwe Guardian that the government's moves were too little, too late.

Briefing journalists on Thursday Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo said government would make 43 900 tonnes of urea and ammonium nitrate fertilizers available to farmers throughout the country.

But Gasela, a former chief executive of the Grain marketing Board, scoffed at the attempts to salvage a planting season that began with so much promise and was dubbed "The Mother Of All Farming Seasons", saying government might as well start planning for the next season.

"It (the fertilizer) will not make any difference at all to the yields — assuming it's delivered to farmers. Maize has a growth period after which it matures," Gasela said.

We have maize that has matured at a height just above ground level, and it cannot be saved.

"It's far too late to talk about inputs now when the season is at an advanced stage. Much of the crop is a total write off."

While conceding that the heavy rains would play a part in lowering yields, Gasela said the situation would have been much better had there been enough fertilizer at the beginning of the season.

A poor harvest would not only be an embarrassment to the government, but would adversely affect the country's fight against inflation as scarce foreign currency would have to be used to import grain.

In his monetary policy statement last October, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono assured farmers that "all the necessary preparatory work is being done to ensure the availability of seeds and fertilizers on time. As the heavens are opening up generously, there should be absolutely no reason for us not to make this coming season the Mother of All Agricultural Seasons".

This hope appears to have been dashed, despite the large amounts spent availing scotchcarts, ploughs, tractors and diesel to farmers.

Last June, Gasela warned that the country faced a serious food deficit with only 30 percent of the national seed requirement available to farmers.