ZIMBABWE:Zimbabwe is facing a shortage of about half the amount of maize needed to feed its people, a US agency said in a bulletin that raised fears of widespread famine in the southern African nation.
In its latest bulletin, the US Famine Early Warning Systems Network, said Zimbabwe did not have enough foreign exchange to afford significant maize imports and that its planned imports would only cover a fraction of the deficit.
Zimbabwe requires 1.8 million tonnes of maize annually. As at the end of December last, only 28 per cent of the country's planned imports had been delivered, the agency said."It remains doubtful that Zimbabwe will be able to meet import goals," it said.
Food shortages are one of the sharpest signs of a deepening economic crisis which is widely blamed on President Robert Mugabe's policies. Zimbabwe has also experienced shortages of fuel, chronic unemployment and inflation above 1,200 per cent.
Food shortages have been common in Zimbabwe since 2001, when Mr Mugabe's government ramped up a programme to seize land from white farmers and redistribute it to landless blacks. Agricultural production has fallen sharply since then.
Critics say those who benefited from land redistribution have been largely ill-equipped to farm, leaving what was once southern Africa's breadbasket struggling to feed itself.
The government has said it contracted with suppliers to import 565,000 tonnes of maize this year from South Africa and Zambia. But the agency said higher prices in South Africa, a major supplier of white maize, and foreign currency shortages would affect Harare's ability to import supplies.
Zimbabwe's government says farmers produced 1.8 million tonnes of maize during the 2005/6 agriculture season and delivered 540,000 tonnes to the state Grain Marketing Board - the sole buyer and seller of maize.
Agriculture, once Zimbabwe's top foreign currency earner, accounts for 18.5 per cent of the country's GDP and is the backbone for its major employers in the cattle, timber, grain and horticulture sectors.
"As the hunger season progresses through January and February, local prices are expected to start rising and this will limit food access for the most vulnerable households," the agency said . - (Reuters)