'Made best Agriculture minister in the region'

Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe has claimed that there is no need to panic as the country has ' enough' maize stocks.

GMAZ chairman Tafadzwa Musarara says Agriculture minister Joseph Made must be praised for ensuring food security saying he has outperformed other regional Agriculture ministers.

"The Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made, has outperformed some of his counterparts in the region in ensuring that maize comes into the country and distributed to vulnerable groups and yet still remaining with sufficient supplies for SGR.

"Equally Minister Made has smoothened the process of private importation of grain. That is unprecedented in southern Africa. Zimbabwe has outperformed most countries in the region given that it had the least donor support if any compared to what other countries have received," he said.

However, in September Government  announced that the country had harvested 511 000 tonnes of maize for the 2015/2016 production year, against a national requirement of 2,2 million tonnes.

Preliminary results from the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) had indicated that the country was likely to produce 445 600 tonnes of maize compared to last year's 742 000 tonnes, reflecting a 40 % decline from the previous season.

Government statistics therefore indicate that the country will require to import maize  amounting to 1,7 million tonnes for both human and animal consumption and deliveries to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) indicate that farmers had so far delivered 175 000 tonnes.

Indications are that the GMB is holding 273 000 tonnes of maize in stock, inclusive of imports.

Zimbabwe, like other countries in southern Africa facing the effects of a severe drought early this year, declared a state of disaster to allow for international aid organisations and government to raise cash for grain imports.