Zimbabwe’s maize output plunges 72%

Harare — The Zimbabwean government forecasts staple maize production will drop 72% in the 2023/24 season, worsening the country’s food situation due to an El Niño-induced drought, a crop assessment report showed on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi have declared the ravaging drought a national disaster.

According to the government’s crop assessment report, estimated maize production is 634,699 tonnes for the season, representing a 72% decrease from the previous season.

Zimbabweans consume 2-million tonnes of maize every year.

The region is reeling from its worst drought in 40 years, owing to a combination of the naturally occurring El Niño and higher average temperatures produced by greenhouse gas emissions.

El Niño is a weather phenomenon associated with a disruption of wind patterns, which means warmer ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific.

To cover the deficit, Zimbabwe’s government plans to import grain, with its private millers looking to source 1.4-million tonnes of white and yellow maize in the next two months from Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Argentina and the US.

Zimbabwe has appealed for $2bn from humanitarian agencies and supporters to feed millions.

Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has said the government would reallocate some budgeted funds from other portfolios to fund grain importation.

The world witnessed record-breaking weather extremes in 2023 as climate change amplified the impacts of El Niño.

Though climate change continues to hamper Zimbabwe’s agricultural prospects, the mainstay of its economy, the country has failed to feed itself since 2000, when former president Robert Mugabe seized white-owned farms, disrupting production and leading to sharp falls in output.

Reuters