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Zim maize 'to help inflation'
14/05/2006 11:51 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe will harvest 1.8 million tonnes of maize after above normal rains in the 2005/6 growing season, which will drive down inflation that raced to more than 1 000% last week, the government-owned Sunday Mail newspaper said in its latest edition.
President Robert Mugabe's government has not given a crop
forecast for 2006, and although officials say the southern
African country expects a better harvest than the previous year
this would be the first time in years that Zimbabwe has produced
enough to meet its total needs, also estimated at 1.8 million
tonnes.
Food deficit
Aid agencies have warned of another food deficit in the
country, which has suffered shortages in the past five years,
saying the lack of inputs such as seed and fertiliser has
undermined production in the just-ended summer cropping season.
The government last month warned aid agencies against
conducting so-called back-door crop assessments saying only the
Central Statistical Office (CSO) had the sole mandate to do so.
"Maize output is expected to be 1.8 million tonnes. Half
will be left in homes," the Sunday Mail said quoting an unnamed
government source.
"About 900 000 tonnes are expected to be delivered to the
GMB (state owned Grain Marketing Board). And of that, half will
go to national strategic reserves," the paper said.
The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Foreign
Agricultural Service sees a harvest of 900 000 tonnes of the
staple maize crop, up from 550 000 last year.
Worsening supplies
In January the government branded the US-based Famine Early Warning System Network, which releases regular reports on
Zimbabwe's food balance, as hostile after the group said the
country faced worsening supply problems.
The CSO said last Friday annual inflation in April had risen
to 1042.9% from 913.6% the previous month, with food prices accounting for a greater part of the jump.
Inflation has emerged as the major enemy of Mugabe's government, dramatising the severity of an economic crisis which analysts say could trigger anti-government protests.
But the Sunday Mail sought to calm a nation in the throes of
a deep eight-year recession saying inflation would tumble.
"Zimbabweans should not be alarmed by the 1 000% inflation rate ... as the economy is set to be revived because of a combination of natural factors and Government-initiated
policies unveiled in the past few weeks," it said.
"...Food inflation, which accounted for a third of the
figures, will be reversed by the good summer cropping harvest."
Zimbabwe's annual maize output has fallen sharply in the
past five years because of drought and Aids, which is killing
off peasant farmers in the prime of life.
Critics also point to Mugabe's controversial seizures of
white-owned farms for blacks, which analysts say has seen
commercial agricultural output plunge more than 60%.
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