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Zimbabwe to import 1,4 million tonnes of maize
01 Apr 2015 at 07:00hrs | Views
Zimbabwe is set to import 1,4 million tonnes of maize this year to feed the nation following a poor agricultural season, a local economist has said.
According to official statistics, the country consumes about 105 000 tonnes of maize per month.
Speaking at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) tax update seminar in Harare yesterday, economist John Robertson said the agricultural output for this year will be less than 500 000 tonnes of grain.
All the evidence suggests this year is going to be a very poor agriculture year.
Will be very lucky to get 500 000 tonnes of maize this year.
Approximately the country needs to import about 1,4 million tonnes of maize to feed the whole nation, Robertson said.
He said government was hoping to get 1,5 million tonnes of maize this year but evidence on the ground was that only a quarter of the maize would be delivered.
Robertson said there was need for government to craft policies that can support agriculture production, which include enabling the 99-year lease agreements to be bankable so that farmers are able to access lines of credit among many others.
They are witnessing the effect of becoming dependent on small-scale farmers to feed the nation. Small-scale farmers can feed their families and it is wrong to expect them to feed the nation, he said.
According to official statistics, the country consumes about 105 000 tonnes of maize per month.
Speaking at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ) tax update seminar in Harare yesterday, economist John Robertson said the agricultural output for this year will be less than 500 000 tonnes of grain.
All the evidence suggests this year is going to be a very poor agriculture year.
Will be very lucky to get 500 000 tonnes of maize this year.
Approximately the country needs to import about 1,4 million tonnes of maize to feed the whole nation, Robertson said.
He said government was hoping to get 1,5 million tonnes of maize this year but evidence on the ground was that only a quarter of the maize would be delivered.
Robertson said there was need for government to craft policies that can support agriculture production, which include enabling the 99-year lease agreements to be bankable so that farmers are able to access lines of credit among many others.
They are witnessing the effect of becoming dependent on small-scale farmers to feed the nation. Small-scale farmers can feed their families and it is wrong to expect them to feed the nation, he said.
Source - newsday
