Zimbabwe agriculture rebounding: Mugabe

HARARE ' Zimbabwe's agricultural sector, which has seen a major downturn in recent years, is recovering on the back of increases in cotton and tobacco output, President Robert Mugabe said Friday.

"Agriculture has been on the rebound over the last two years," Mugabe said while opening an agriculture fair in the capital.

"The major drivers of agricultural growth have been mainly tobacco and cotton."

Zimbabwe will this year earn $359 million (250 million euros) from the sale of 131 million kilogrammes of tobacco, Mugabe said, adding that output was up six percent from 2010.

Cotton will earn the country $240 million, up from $107 million last year, Mugabe said.

He said output for maize, groundnuts, soya bean and sugar cane was also up.

At peak, Zimbabwe produced 220 million kilogrammes of tobacco a year before Mugabe's controversial land reforms saw some 4,500 white-owned farms redistributed to landless blacks.

The programme was disastrous for output as many of the new farmers lacked agricultural experience -- though Mugabe and his government blamed the drop in output on drought.

Zimbabwe needs 2.2 million tonnes of maize to feed itself, but according to government projections only 1.7 million tonnes will be harvested this year, with the remainder being met through imports.

Earlier this month, the United Nations appealed to donors to contribute $488 million to Zimbabwe to avert hunger caused by a drought this year.