Zimbabwe’s central bank governor says that the cash-strapped Southern African country last year spent $135-million importing food to make up for poor harvests, a state-controlled newspaper reported on Wednesday.
”Zimbabwe’s grain imports gobbled up $135-million last year,” the Herald quoted Gideon Gono as saying. Zimbabwe is critically short of foreign currency.
Gono said he applauded efforts by the Zimbabwe National Army to grow food for the country this year in order to stave off the cost of importing grain.
Around three million Zimbabweans, or a quarter of the population, are estimated to be in need of food aid ahead of harvests due in April or May.
”We applaud the Zimbabwe Defence Forces for taking up the challenge by strapping their guns on their backs and rolling up their sleeves to till the land,” Gono was quoted as telling a meeting of army officers from the region, meeting in Harare on Tuesday.
”Under this programme, no doubt a huge food gap will be closed, effectively saving foreign exchange to go towards other priority sectors of the economy,” he added.
Agricultural production in Zimbabwe, once dubbed the grain basket of Southern Africa, has been in decline for the past six years following the government’s controversial seizure of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution among new black farmers.
The government blames the poor harvests on drought.
This year, despite good rains, chances of a bumper harvest have been dashed due to acute fertiliser shortages. The country’s deputy agriculture minister said last month that expected yields of the staple maize have been slashed by 50% due to the shortages.
Zimbabwe’s foreign-currency shortages are making it increasingly hard to pay for the importation of raw materials needed to manufacture fertiliser, as well as to pay for fuel, power and medicines. — Sapa-dpa