Zimbabwe Bans Maize Import To Protect Local Farmers

Following a year of drought the Zimbabwean government is all concerned to protect its farmers and in a new move announced ban on grain imports.

Over the years the country has faced low grain production and last year’s devastating drought left over 4 million people in need of food aid.

Since 2001 Zimbabwe has relied on food grain imports mostly to meet maize demands apart from some foreign donors.

Last year the government introduced a ‘Command Agriculture’ drive to encourage the local farmers by offering them good pay of $390 per ton of maize harvests.

Under the program the farmers will also get fertilizer, seed and chemicals from the government if they agree to sell part of their crop to the state.

Chief economist Zimbabwe farmers union, Prince Kuipa, said the country is expecting about three and a half million metric tonnes of maize and it will be segregated as two and a half metric tonnes for food security and about 350,000 for livestock consumption.

Maize is the staple crop of Zimbabwe and about 70 percent of the people lives in rural areas, surviving on agriculture.

If believed to the forecast output of the national treasury about 2 million tonnes of maize is expected this year. Last year the maize output was 511,000 tonnes.