Zimbabwe bans grain exports

DESPITE the growing prospects of a bumper harvest in the 2022/23 cropping season, the country is yet to start exporting grain, as efforts to promote food and nutrition security at both household and national level continue, the Government has revealed.

The Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS) chief director professor Obert Jiri recently observed that although the country had managed to boost production of maize, sorghum, finger millet, it was still to start exports.

"Through various Government initiatives we are looking to boost our production volumes and I believe we are in a positive path towards grain exports in the near future," he said.

The development comes following a robust implementation of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, which saw the country increasing its cereal production.

According to the first crop and livestock assessment report the area under maize increased by 3 percent from 1 903 668 hectares in the 2021/22 season to 1 962 575 hectares in the 2022/2 term while sorghum production increased by 32, 14 percent with millet production increasing by 61 percent.

The second part of the report estimated maize production at 2 298 281 tonnes which is a 58 percent increase from the 2021/2022 season. This is attributed to well-distributed rainfall received in the country in both space and time.

"This increase is evidence of the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy's effectiveness, as we target to reverse the negative trends of food production in the country," said Professor Jiri.

The crop and livestock assessment report is one of the early warning methods for forecasting the national food security situation and gives a snapshot of the performance of the sector and the different specific sub-sectors of the agricultural economy.

The area under maize increased marginally by 1 percent but the 58 percent volume growth was largely due to yield increase from 0, 7 tonne per hectare to 1, 17 tonne per hectare with a 54 percent increase with higher potential provinces yielding higher.

"We aim to grow the agriculture economy in the country by improving yields," said Professor Jiri.

The Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy is a 5-year programme that was launched by Government in 2019 to boost the country's food production.

"The agriculture revolution is a process that takes time for a country to realise growth in the sector and these Government blueprints are lined up to consolidate the gains that have already been achieved," said Professor Jiri.

In addition, the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy is positioned to create a robust agriculture sector that will turn around the economy and achieve food and nutrition security in the face of an increasing population.