Photo/FILE
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe (centre) at a past food summit of
Latin American and African heads of state in Rome in 2009.
HARARE,
Zimbabwe
is importing 150,000 tonnes of maize from neighbouring South Africa to
guarantee food supplies before the April harvest, a senior official said
today, with an estimated 2.2 million people at risk.
“We
are importing maize from South Africa to cover the gap between now and
the next harvest,” deputy agriculture minister David Marapira told AFP.
At
least 2.2 million people in rural areas will require food aid before
the April harvest, according to a survey by the Zimbabwe Vulnerability
Assessment Committee which groups government and aid agencies.
“So
far, we have received 300 tonnes by road through Bulawayo (city) and
will be moved to other parts of the country. The total we are importing
is 150,000 tones and we are hoping this will cover the period between
now and April.”
Zimbabwe has been facing perennial food
shortages prompting the government to import maize from neighbours to
augment local production.
Poor food production has been
blamed on land reforms which saw the seizure of white-owned commercial
farmers under President Robert Mugabe’s land reforms for redistribution
to landless blacks.
The government says poor rains in recent years are to blame for the drop in food production.
Zimbabwe
needs over two million tonnes of maize annually but last year the
country produced only 800,000 tonnes, a drop from 1.4 million tonnes the
previous year.
Last year the government signed a deal to import maize but deliveries have been slow, Marapira said.
“We are still getting maize imports from Zambia but the movement of the maize has been very slow,” he said.
Zimbabwe has a population of almost 14 million people.
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