Zimbabwe food security improves

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THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s food security arm, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet) has projected the number of people in need of food assistance in Zimbabwe to be lower in January next year.
The 2022-2023 harvest saw the country achieving a bumper harvest leading to improved household food access and increasing market supplies of staple grains, particularly maize, in most markets.
The Southern African country had its largest corn crop in more than three decades of 2,8 million tonnes in 2020-21, while last year’s output was 2,2 million tonnes.

“Fewsnet projects the number of people in need of food assistance will be lower in Afghanistan, Angola, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Somalia, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe,” Fewsnet said in a recent update.
“While needs are lower due to the better 2023 harvest and informal dollarisation, Crisis (IPC Phase 3) is expected in southern deficit-producing areas, where households have lower capacity to cope with high food prices and an atypical decline in farm labour income amid forecasted below-average rainfall during the 2023/24 cropping season. Households earning in ZWL face the most difficulty.”
Recently, the minister of Agriculture, Anxious Masuka, revealed the government’s approval to sell maize surplus from past harvests with the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) anticipated to oversee the exports.
“Now we have a surplus that we have considered for export. The cabinet considered and approved 40 000 metric tonnes of maize to Rwanda trenched as 10 000 metric tonnes each month for the next 4 months.
“We have also received a request from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for the export of maize.
“Cumulatively, we have received a request for 350 000 metric tonnes of maize and we are considering our options closely so that we can retain sufficient grains for our use. The process has commenced, and the GMB will be overseeing the export process,” Masuka said.

This will be the first time for the country to export maize in over two decades sending 100 000 tons to several African countries including Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya.
The country has over the past years been failing to produce enough maize to sustain itself, hence relying on imports to cover the deficit. According to officials, the country will not require food imports this year as it is now food secure.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe is currently pushing irrigation initiatives as it aims to achieve 350 000 hectares of irrigated land by 2025 as outlined in the National Development Strategy 1.
The irrigation strategy push is expected to aid in boosting the country’s food production.
According to the Agriculture Ministry’s director for irrigation development, Bezzel Chitsungo, 195 000 hectares are already equipped with irrigation schemes with the balance requiring approximately US$2 billion to equip, with the aim of at least a 20 percent contribution by farmer-led initiatives.
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