650 000 tonnes of grain for vulnerable rural families
More than 650 000 tonnes of grain is now in stock to provide the Government’s requirement of 560 000 tonnes to feed vulnerable rural families until the end of March next year, when the new harvest starts being reaped.
The private sector is importing the commercial stocks required to ensure adequate supplies of mealie meal.
The major drought this year has seen Zimbabwe resorting to grain imports as a way of guaranteeing food security. The carry-over stocks, and what was delivered from the last harvest, are now reserved for the Government food-aid programme and are adequate.
The private sector has said it has secured the necessary supplies and will be importing 1,1 million tonnes for the commercial sectors.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and rural Development Minister, Dr Anxious Masuka recently urged private players to import as much as possible to avert food shortages.
He said that all vulnerable and food insecure households will have access to the grain as the Second republic scales efforts to fight hunger across the country.
About 650 000 tonnes of grain was now in stock, with 560 000 tonnes adequate to supply the vulnerable people in rural areas to March next year. So there is a modest buffer as the next harvest comes in.
“We have allowed the private sector to import as much as possible during this period to March next year so that they can supply approximately priced, affordable, available mealie meal to the urban people. We have also encouraged the business sector discouraged the business sector not to take advantage of the situation to charge high prices,” he said.
Government will soon be starting to distribute cash to urban dwellers in need of food assistance in the form of cash transfer to buy the mealie meal, the monthly cash allowance per person being the cost of a 10kg bag of mealie meal.
In a recent interview, Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe national chairperson Dr Tafadzwa Musarara told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture and resettlement that their members had put in place measures to ensure the availability of maize meal in the market.
Millers were importing 1,1 million tonnes of maize meal to ensure they had the capacity to supply the requirements of the markets.
The country’s approach to addressing food deficit challenges through increased maize imports will demonstrate a commitment to ensuring food security for its citizens.
The country’s budgeted annual consumption of maize and traditional grains is 2,2 million tonnes with 1,8 million tonnes used for food and 400 000 tonnes used for stock feed.