Bulawayo, ZIMBABWE, 01/02 (IPS) – On January 10, Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) arrested three men found with about US$130,000 worth of fertilizer.
“Boots” are defined as part of the input provided by the government to smallholder farmers in an effort to increase the country’s food security.
The case is one of many that shows the dilemma in the country’s efforts to ensure food security. A multi-million dollar government-funded program that provides seeds and fertilizer to smallholder farmers has been unsuccessful in supporting food production.
The agricultural input abuse has been a thorn in the side of the government, with officials seeing it as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the country’s self-sustaining ambitions. At the same time, painting analysts that such government schemes are vulnerable to abuse by well-connected individuals.
In recent years, Zimbabwe has redoubled efforts to boost production of its staple maize, with the government targeting last year to provide 1.8 million rural households with seed and fertilizer.
Much of the southern African country’s maize production – up to 70% – comes from small rural households, follow for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), but it was here that poverty was widespread, with World Bank note that nearly 8 million people in Zimbabwe earn less than $1 a day.
Such conditions have led to a diversion of agricultural inputs for resale, effectively slowing down the country’s efforts to feed itself, analysts note.
During the 2020-21 season, Zimbabwe produces 2.7 million tons of corn, tripled the previous year thanks to above-normal rains, however concerns remain about maintaining production levels.
Ian Scoones, an academic and researcher at the University of Sussex’s Institute for Development Studies, said: “The painful experience of the past 20 years since the land reform has shown very clearly, the results so not necessarily maintained. He has written extensively about agriculture in Zimbabwe.
This 2021-22 season, the unstable climate has caused many farmers to delay planting as they continue to wait for rain. The Ministry of Agriculture reported in early January that the country has miss target 2 million hectares of corn.
According to the ministry, only about 1 million hectares have been planted so far this year. Below the Strategies to transform food and agriculture systemsZimbabwe set a target of US$8 billion for agricultural production by 2025.
Grain production has fluctuated over the past two decades. For example, in the 2001 crop, about 1.5 million hectares were planted, a 15% decrease from the previous crop according to FAO data.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) note that Zimbabwe’s 2021-22 maize harvest, at 2.7 million tonnes, is the highest since 1984-5.
These upheavals highlight the country’s struggle to feed itself.
The USDA attributed the strong harvest to “favorable weather conditions,” indicating limits on government corn and seed subsidies in a predominantly rainwater-using sector.
Analysts say the country will take longer to realize its goals beyond providing farmers with inputs amid other challenges such as climate instability.
Stanley Mbuka, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit, said: “The government will need to provide incentives, such as quotas for food crop production, to large-scale farmers who have tendency to specialize in non-food crops, which makes food security worse.” HONEY).
“The volatile currency also makes it difficult for smallholder farmers to satisfy themselves as they sell to the grain marketing board in the local currency, which depreciates very quickly,” Mbuka told IPS.
The researchers also note that other innovations to encourage farmers to adopt new methods to boost food production, although showing great promise, was abandoned, among other reasons, to be too labor intensive.
Much of rural agriculture in Zimbabwe is not mechanized and depends on rainwater.
Adding to this is a combination of longer-term fundamentals, including macroeconomic challenges, increased occurrence of climate shocks, the World Food Program (WFP) adds. , the COVID-19 pandemic and the cumulative impact of two consecutive years of drought, according to the World Food Program (WFP).
Maria Gallar, WFP-Zimbabwe spokeswoman said: “To break the cycle of recurrent food crises, stakeholders are increasingly aware that more investment is needed in building capacity. resilience and early warning”.
“The chances of smallholder farmers falling into food insecurity are many times reduced if they have access to productive assets like dams,” Gallar told IPS by email.
Although last year’s corn harvest was above average, WFP said the latest figures show an estimated more than 5 million people are food insecure. This includes 42 percent of the urban population – about 2.4 million people – where the government has promoted urban farming.
“Sustainable change, after so many years of failure, will require constant effort and time,” says Gallar.
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© Inter Press Service (2022) – All rights reservedOrigin: Inter Press Service
