News

May 19, 2008

Once The Bread Basket Of Africa, Zimbabwe Now Has An Accumulated Farm Trade Deficit Of Five Billion Dollars

By Clemence Manyukwe

Last year Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe launched an ambitious agricultural programme, dubbed the “mother of all agricultural seasons”, which he said would see the country regaining its food exporting nation status. Mugabe’s government projected the country’s 2007-2008 season would see farmers producing three million tonnes of its staple crop maize, more than the country's needs. Presenting the national budget in the country’s parliament in December 2007, finance minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi set aside one third of the budget for capital equipment to support agriculture, in the hope that farmers would grow for both the domestic and export markets.

Dubbing it "The Peoples' Budget", he said there would be "an increase in supply, with emphasis on grassroots economics". However, some educated outside observers are far less confident. The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has, in direct contrast to the official view of the Zimbabwean government, issued a dire warning of impending disaster. “The total expected production from this season may not meet the expected target”, the FAO warned in a report compiled after a crop assessment...