Zimbabwe to import maize seed in bid to boost food production

Zimbabwe has issued seed firms with permits to import maize seed for the 2007-2008 agricultural season, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono said yesterday.

Giving an update on the forthcoming agricultural season, Gono said contracts and funding arrangements had been finalized and seed houses would start importing from Zambia and Botswana.

"Within the last 24 hours, we have concluded everything to do with the maize seed needed by the country," Gono said. "Our suppliers in Zambia and Botswana have confirmed that by Monday the first consignment would be delivered."

Zimbabwe needs an estimated 50 000 metric tonnes of maize seed for the agricultural season. So far at least 36 000 metric tonnes are available but seed houses are holding on to stocks unwilling to sell at state-fixed prices they say are uneconomic. Seed houses are expected to import 12 400 metric tonnes of maize seed from neighbouring countries.

Gono said Zimbabwe had secured a line of credit from a European country to buy raw materials for the manufacture of packaging for agricultural produce next marketing season. He said factories were already working on the packaging and 30 million bags will be available by March next year. Gono could not be drawn into revealing the identify of the country that he claimed had provided lines of credit.

Gono said the central bank would launch a high-tech fuel facility for selected farmers in all the provinces. Under the arrangement, at least 50 farmers from each of the 10 provinces will be issued with a card they can use to swipe fuel at designated service stations.

Zimbabwe, also grappling with its worst ever economic crisis, has since 2000 relied on food imports and handouts from international food agencies mainly due to failure by new black farmers resettled on former white-owned commercial farms under a controversial government land redistribution programme to maintain production.

Poor performance in the mainstay agricultural sector has also had far reaching consequences as hundreds of thousands have lost jobs while the manufacturing sector, starved of inputs from the sector, is operating below 30 percent of capacity.

ZimOnline