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U.N. agency forecasts Zimbabwe's 2015 maize output at 950,000 Tons
A Zimbabwean man, Graham Matanhire, harvests maize from a field in a peri-urban suburb of Mabvuku in Harare, April 10, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo
28/04/2015
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's maize production is forecast to drop by 35 percent to 950,000 tonnes this year from 2014 due to poor rains, a United Nations agency said on Tuesday, leaving the country with a deficit of the staple crop.
Zimbabwe requires at least 1.8 million tonnes of maize annually and has over the years relied on imports from neighbouring countries, including Zambia and South Africa to plug its maize deficit.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its latest report that maize production had been hit by poor rains especially in the southern parts of Zimbabwe, reducing the annual output from 1.46 million tonnes last year.
The 2014 harvest was the highest since 2004, when the country produced 1.65 million tonnes.
"The unfavourable rains in Zimbabwe, particularly impacting the low producing regions in the south, resulted in a write‑off of nearly 300,000 hectares," FAO said.
"Maize imports are forecast to nearly double, in anticipation of a tight domestic supply situation."
There was no immediate data on Zimbabwe's maize imports in 2014 but the government early this year lifted a ban on imports it had imposed last year in anticipation of a low maize harvest.
Agriculture contributes 17 percent to Zimbabwe's gross domestic product and the decline in maize production is expected to impact on economic growth, which the government has forecast at 3.2 percent although economists see slower expansion.
The Southern African country has struggled to feed itself since 2003 due to bad weather and disruptions to commercial agriculture following President Robert Mugabe's seizures of white-owned farms to resettle the majority black people.
South Africa and Zambia are also expected to record lower maize output due to poor rains.
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