Volumes Of Maize In Zimbabwe’s Strategic Grain Reserve Decline Rapidly - Perrance Shiri

The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri has said that the volumes of maize in Zimbabwe’s Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) have shrunk to below 100,000 tons.

Officially opening the ministry’s strategic planning workshop in Bulawayo City on Wednesday, Shiri said:

As things stand, we have less than 100, 000 metric tons of grain in the Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR) and imports, especially of food are ballooning.

The mandatory level of grain is 500, 000 tons. Zimbabwe had a poor farming season last year due to the effects of the El Nino induced drought and Cyclone Idai.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government have since made a plea to stakeholders, sympathisers and the international community to assist with food.

The government also bought maize from Tanzania but it is to be insufficient considering that low rains are also expected this year.

Zimbabwe’s Agriculture sector has been underperforming for the past two decades and some attribute the performance to climate change, maladministration and the haphazard way through which the land reform programme was implemented.

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