HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: Food Crisis Looks Set to Drag On

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Ish Mafundikwa

HARARE, Dec 20 2003 (IPS) - Once every month for the past two years, Komborerai Moyo has joined hundreds of his fellow villagers and queued up to receive food handouts from donor agencies.

Moyo’s situation is not unique to the north-eastern corner of Zimbabwe where his village is situated. More than half of the country’s population of some twelve million has, at some time or another, needed food aid over this period.

Almost two months after the rainy season should have started, most parts of the country have not received substantial rains. This has cast doubt on whether Zimbabwe will harvest enough grain next year to begin restoring a measure of self sufficiency in food production. In the past, the country used to export grain to its neighbours.

“If the rains do come now some people may still harvest something,” says Moyo.

But he adds that for most, the coming of the rains will not provide relief as far as growing their own food is concerned. This is because many Zimbabweans do not have seed for the staple crop – maize.

“We hear that the government is giving some seed and fertilizer to…people with large farms – but so far, we have received nothing,” he complained.

Memory Chiwanza, another recipient of donor food handouts, is also confronted with a seed shortage. “We are going to select seed from the maize we receive for food,” she said. However, these types of seeds typically result in very low yields.

A seed marketing official who spoke to IPS on condition of anonymity says while seed production was lower than normal last season, the main problem is cost. Available seed is now priced beyond the reach of the majority of Zimbabwean farmers in communal lands, and those resettled by government under the land reform exercise.

“Commercial outlets are asking for so much, and because there isn’t as much as usual – seed is finding its way onto the black market where prices go up substantially,” he said.

The official added that inflation also affects seed which is sold in rural areas: “The traders use the current difficulties of getting fuel to justify adding hefty transport costs to the seed.”

“We hope that the government will help us,” says Moyo. But the extent of the need is such that the cash-strapped Zimbabwean government simply cannot cope.

Fertilizers have to be imported. The decline in the value of the Zimbabwean dollar against other currencies means that farmers cannot even begin to thing about buying the chemicals because of their high prices.

Donor agencies are trying to help people become self-sufficient, but they can only do so much. Stewart Muchapera, a spokesman for World Vision, said their Agricultural Recovery Scheme was providing about 70,000 households with seed countrywide.

“Obviously we cannot help everybody, so we target the most needy…The idea is to boost local food production,” he explained.

Besides maize seeds, the packs also contain seeds for small grains such as sorghum and millet. These crops have adapted to dry conditions, and farmers are encouraged to grow them in areas where rainfall is low, even during normal seasons.

Nonetheless, the Drought Monitoring Centre for the Southern African Development Community, based in Harare, says the chances of a recovery in the Zimbabwean agricultural sector this season are “not too bright.”

The center is forecasting normal to above-normal rainfall in parts of Zimbabwe – but it’s unclear which areas in particular might benefit from these rains. This puts farmers who are in a position to plant at a disadvantage.

“In agriculture, a week can make such a major difference, so the timing is crucial,” says the centre’s Co-ordinator, Emmanuel Dlamini.

He adds that if the rains don’t come soon, Zimbabwe will need assistance in meeting its food requirements for some time yet. “It’s not a question of replenishing existing stocks but really starting from zero. So, the country might need a few good harvests before things to get back to normal.”

Donor agencies like the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) blame the food crisis in Zimbabwe on the drop in commercial maize production due to the land reform programme, erratic rainfall, the government monopoly on cereal imports and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

While the government maintains a monopoly on the importation of grain, the chronic shortage of foreign currency has meant that it is largely unable to import enough food to feed its people. As a result, the supply of maize from its Grain Marketing Board is erratic, and in some cases non-existent.

The WFP played a key role during the 1992 drought in Zimbabwe, when it set up offices in the country. By 1995, all but one those offices had been closed because Zimbabwe was on its feet again.

The land reform exercise, floods and droughts changed all that. In 2001 the WFP made an assessment of the situation, and by 2002 it was back in the country.

“We are looking at feeding more than five million people until next year’s harvest,” said Makena Walker, a spokesperson for the agency. She explained that while the WFP does not plan beyond the next harvest in the hope that things might change, the current situation in Zimbabwe was cause for concern.

“The rains have been late, and going around the country you do not see too much agricultural activity,” she said, adding that the lack of seed for small-scale farmers and a shortage of fuel for tillage on large farms were certain to undermine food production.

It might be early days yet, but the signs are that the WFP and other donor agencies might be in Zimbabwe for a while yet. (