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Zimbabwe says in late bid to salvage farming season
Nelson Banya, Reuters
January 24, 2008

http://africa.reuters.com/country/ZA/news/usnL24417134.html

Zimbabwe's government is making frantic efforts to ensure the 2008 agriculture season is not a total disaster after shortages of fertiliser and floods hit crops, a government minister said on Thursday.

Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo told reporters that authorities were stepping up efforts to import more fertiliser, mainly from South Africa and China and encouraging farmers to continue planting long after the stipulated time.

Gumbo -- who previously projected output of the staple maize at 3 million tonnes this season -- acknowledged that heavy rains and fertIliser shortages had taken a toll on crops but refused to give new forecasts.

"We realise it might be a bit late for some of our farmers (to plant) as normal planting is done between October and late December, but I don't think we're having a normal rainfall season," Gumbo said.

"So if the ground is wet, why not plant maize? There's no case for people to panic," he said.

Gumbo said 43,900 tonnes of fertiliser had been secured locally and through imports for farmers. This is against a target of 50,000 tonnes.

Farming exeprts say that although Zimbabwe is enjoying above normal rains this year, lack of adequate preparation and shortages of seed, fertiliser, fuel and flooding in some areas meant the country would have to import grain again.

But Gumbo remained optimistic on Thursday.

"The early crop is doing reasonably well...but excessive rains have caused waterlogging and leaching and the situation is not encouraging, especially in sandy areas," Gumbo said.

"As for fertiliser, government is doing everything in its power to make sure fertiliser is made available to our farmers."

His optimism was not shared by the government's agricultural technical and extension service (Agritex), which revealed that the condition of crops across the country was poor and that the shortage of fertiliser would reduce maize yields.

"The unavailability of fertliser, if not urgently addressed, will impact negatively on the final yield," Agritex said.

The government initially estimated planting 2 million hectares being put under the staple crop, but Agritex said only 719,000 hectares of land had been planted due to shortages of inputs.

Analysts say floods would compound Zimbabwe's stricken economy which relies on agriculture. The sector has been in turmoil since 2000 when President Robert Mugabe's government seized white-owned farms to redistribute among landless blacks.

Critics say most of the black farmers were ill-equipped to undertake commercial farmers and have struggled to get key inputs like fertiliser and seed.

(Editing by Michael Roddy)

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