Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who is leader of government business in Parliament yesterday said Zimbabwe is not panicking about the impending maize shortage because it has about 245 000 tonnes in grain reserves and will pay local farmers an import parity price of US$390 to release the maize that they have.
Responding to questions in the Senate, Ziyambi said there might not be any grain in the silos but farmers were holding a lot of maize.
“Government decided to have multifaceted responses to this. The first one currently, we are providing our people with relief aid in pockets that did not perform well the previous season, but what we are also doing is, we have decided to mop up maize that farmers might have and as a result, an announcement was made that Government is going to be paying farmers the import parity price of $390 per tonne and our hope is that, that will incentivise farmers to bring the maize that they have,” Ziyamba said.
“We actually have an estimate of what we believe is there within the farming community. That is the reason why I also indicated that Government has actually incentivised to say that instead of us importing from outside, why not offer our farmers, whom we know have their maize stocked up, the import parity price, so that we buy from them and we empower them as opposed to importing first.”
On Wednesday Ziyambi said Zimbabwe would not be importing any genetically modified maize because the law did not allow it to do so.
Q&A:
HON. SEN. MACKENZIE: Thank you very much Mr. President. My question is directed to the Leader of the House, Hon. Ziyambi. Hon. Minister, we know that this year is a very difficult year in terms of maize situation throughout the country. We know that in a situation like this, our people are going to be exploited, others hoarding so that they can spike the prices. What precautionary measures is Government putting in place to ensure that our people are not exploited? Thank you, Mr. President.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank Hon. Sen. Mackenzie for the question which is very important.
Mr. President, what Government is doing is that we have a situation that is obtaining because of the El Nino and our projected harvest for the coming season, we are actually in the middle of assessing how it has been impacted by El Nino even though we know that the harvest that we expected, we are not going to get it.
What we are doing, we are doing it in two parts. Currently Mr. President, as of now, we are still food self-sufficient. We had a very good harvest the previous year but we are projecting that as we go forward, we are going to have to be food self sufficient because of the El Nino phenomenon.
Government decided to have multifaceted responses to this. The first one currently, we are providing our people with relief aid in pockets that did not perform well the previous season, but what we are also doing is, we have decided to mop up maize that farmers might have and as a result, an announcement was made that Government is going to be paying farmers the import parity price of $390 per tonne and our hope is that, that will incentivise farmers to bring the maize that they have.
We have around 200 000 metric tonnes within our strategic grain reserve at GMB. We also have allowed importers; Grain Millers association and all the millers to import what they can for the private sector. So what we are currently undertaking is an exercise to assess the projected harvest. Once we have that, we will be able to say what is the deficit and then we come up with programmes to ensure that we close the gap. One of the immediate decisions that Cabinet did was, we have several water bodies, and in fact, we have over 10 000 water bodies in the country.
The immediate solution that Cabinet agreed upon is to ensure that we put a bigger area under wheat this season, so that we can substitute the use of maize with wheat or we can do swap deal, whichever will be applicable, so that we ensure that we will remain food self-sufficient. As a country, we are not panicking, we know that we have got the capabilities to ensure that we do that. Over and above that, we are undertaking a programme to ensure that we drill boreholes in every village that we will install solar systems and water systems so that our villagers can grow crops that will augment what the Government will be giving them. The measures that Government is putting in place will ensure that even those that have appetite of reaping our people, will find the market sufficiently stocked or our people growing sufficient grain to ensure that we go past this El Nino phase. What is expected from those that do weather forecasting is that the next season will actually be normal or above normal. We need to put in place measures to mitigate this gap that we have for this current season that we are about to harvest. I thank you.
HON. SEN. R. NDLOVU: My question is that we heard that the Committee on Agriculture went out to our silos and found out that there was nothing in our silos, yet the Government is saying our silos have maize for the entire season. How far true is that Hon. Minister?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank the Hon. Sen. for that question. If the Committee went out looking for maize in silos, I think they were misleading themselves. Government indicated that within the strategic reserves, be it in grain bags or in silos, we have around 230 metric tonnes of maize. We also know from the surveys that we have done that several of our farmers did not deliver all their maize to GMB this past season because Government adopted liberalised approach to marketing of grain. In other words, the private sector was also allowed to buy maize. We know the amount of maize that was bought by the private sector. We actually have an estimate of what we believe is there within the farming community. That is the reason why I also indicated that Government has actually incentivised to say that instead of us importing from outside, why not offer our farmers, whom we know have their maize stocked up, the import parity price, so that we buy from them and we empower them as opposed to importing first.
We have a lot of maize to the tune of about 245 metric tonnes, there about, within our GMB. However, I have not received that Committee report which indicates that we do not have maize in our silos. I think it is premature to start to discuss a Committee report that has not been tabled, neither have they finalised themselves because if it has been finalised, it would have been tabled. I think let us hold our horses, wait for the specifics of that report and we can then be able to interrogate whether that is the actual situation obtaining on the ground.
On GMO’s here is what the Minister told the National Assembly on Wednesday:
HON. CHIDUWA: I think the Hon. Minister did not get my question well. I said, what is Government policy regarding the importation and consumption of GMOs, in general, and grain in particular? The follow up question that I want is the Government position on the likely health side effects of consuming GMOS. Maybe for this one, we can get assistance from the Minister of Health and Child Care. I submit.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I got distracted when he was posing his supplementary. Can he repeat so that I can capture correctly and respond accordingly?
HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. What is Government policy regarding the importation and consumption of GMOs, in general, and grain in particular?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Madam Speaker. The short response is, we do not allow GMOs. My earlier response which the Hon. Member said I did not get his question was, when the time comes, we will look at options that would need GMOS if need be. Currently, Madam Speaker, we do not have a policy of allowing importation of GMO grain because we do not want to contaminate our fields with GMO grain. However, when the time comes, if need be, we will have a look at it and the nation will be advised. I thank you.
Source: ZimInsider
