Zimbabwe to parcel out farm equipment as FAO warns of food crisis

Zimbabwe to parcel out farm equipment as FAO warns of food crisis

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By Lebo Nkatazo

ZIMBABWE will on Friday distribute farm implements worth trillions of dollars to black farmers as a United Nations agency warned the country’s projected “mother of all seasons” will be a major flop and the country will need to import food to avert starvation.

Invitations sent out by the country’s central bank and the Ministry of Agricultural Mechanisation said they would “launch Phase 3 of the farm mechanisation programme, Phase 1 of the electricity generator programme, Phase 1 of the grinding mills programme for women and youth groups, and Phase 1 of the agricultural motor cycles programme.”

The Zimbabwe government launched Phase 1 of its controversial mechanisation programme mid-last year. Thousands of tractors, combine harvesters, planters and discs were parcelled out to newly-resettled black farmers with President Robert Mugabe promising a “mother of all agricultural seasons”.

Phase 2, launched towards the end of 2007, saw more than 50,000 animal-drawn implements such as harrows, ploughs and cultivators being given to small-scale farmers, with the bulk of beneficiaries being senior politicians and security officers.

A crop assessment report by Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said the country needs to import food due to flooding from excessive rains and lack of fertiliser which has destroyed crops countrywide.

“The total expected production from this season may not meet the expected target,” FAO warned in the report compiled after a crop assessment exercise carried out from Feb 3-11. “For this reason, there is need to look into contingency plans for food imports.”

Since 2001, Zimbabwe has grappled with food shortages, which critics partly blame on President Robert Mugabe's seizure of white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks. They in turn lack adequate seed, fertiliser and fuel.

Producers have also failed to meet the targeted cropping area of 2 million hectares for the staple maize grain mainly due to shortages of fuel, which along with electricity, foreign currency and water shortages mark a devastating economic crisis gripping the country.

Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo was unavailable for comment but he has previously said Zimbabwe would produce 3 million tonnes of maize this year, more than the country's needs.

Food shortages have helped drive prices higher, pushing inflation past 100,000 percent in January and adding political pressure on Mugabe, who faces a challenge from a former ally and the main opposition leader at the polls later this month.

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, will contest for the presidency against former finance minister Simba Makoni, who was expelled from the ruling party three weeks ago, and long time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Zimbabwe, which has lost its status as the regions's bread basket status over the last seven years, has had to import grain from South Africa, Zambia and Malawi.

Last December, Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi said the food import bill was expected to more than double in 2007 to $405 million, straining the country's scarce foreign exchange resources.

Mugabe denies his policies have plunged a once prosperous country into crisis and instead blames Western powers for punitive sanctions he says have crippled the economy. - Staff Reporter/Reuters
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