More Food Shortages Anticipated
Erratic weather is likely to hurt Zimbabwe's harvest this year, with the country ending up with an even higher maize deficit than in 2007, according to the latest report from the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS-NET).
Heavy rainfall, with flooding in several districts, in December 2007 forced many farmers to scale down their planned crop area, as they were unable to prepare the land and apply fertiliser, FEWS-NET's Food Security Update for February 2008 commented.
The impact of a dry spell in February, which affected cereal crops in various stages of growth across the country, has yet to be assessed. So no one can actually predict what the deficit could be
Despite the setback, a Zimbabwean government assessment said the area planted to maize, the staple crop, had increased by six percent compared to the 2006/07 cropping season. An earlier crop assessment by the government, which media reports last week seized on, reportedly said only 14 percent of land targeted for maize had been planted by December.
However, the impact of a dry spell in February, which affected cereal crops in various stages of growth across the country, has yet to be assessed, said a regional agricultural expert who did not want to be named. "So no one can actually predict what the deficit could be."
Zimbabwe had a grain deficit of about 891,000 tonnes in 2007 - almost 50 percent below the 2006 harvest - on account of adverse weather, severe economic constraints that led to shortages of key inputs, deteriorating infrastructure, especially in irrigation and, most importantly, financially unviable government-controlled prices, said a joint Crop and Food supply assessment mission by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
Food production declined in Zimbabwe after a land reform programme began in 2000, where white-owned farms were redistributed among black farmers. Most new farmers have been unable to utilise the prime land allocated to them because of lack of inputs and incentives. Poor rains over several seasons also hit output.
