Over 300 milling companies issued import permits

The Zimbabwe government has issued permits to 313 companies in the milling business to import 3.8 million tonnes of maize to ensure food sufficiency in the country, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka, said this at the Zimbabwe Agriculture Resilience Symposium and Drought Action Committee feedback held on Wednesday in Harare.

“The government has given import permits for 313 companies to import 3.8 million metric tonnes to avoid the upsurge with the process of issuing and people begin to trade paper. The Ministry and the permanent secretary are rationalising the issuance of these permits,” he said.

“I want to thank the private sector for complimenting the government to ensure that we get enough grain for the urban and the rural population. They have imported 630 000 metric tonnes to date, and much more is expected.”

The Drought Action Committee meets to gather information about the progress that has been made by the eight sub-committees that were formed to spearhead implementation of the El Nino-induced drought mitigation strategy.

These include Wheat, Crops, Livestock and Fisheries, Horticulture, Irrigation, Grain Mobilisation, Strategic Grain Reserve, Water and WASH, Mechanisation, Data and Knowledge Management.

Masuka said the El Nino-induced drought is the worst the country has faced in the 43 years of its independence, and it has affected cereal production with a 72 percent reduction.

He said the government has four components addressing the hunger situation in the country which include the winter wheat drought response strategy, contracting farmers to grow maize, sorghum and other crops, importing mealie-meal, and winter cereals production.

The government, through the Department of Social Welfare, has distributed 152 000 metric tons out of the 450 000 metric tons that were in the country’s reserves in April, and, as of Tuesday, there were 270 000 metric tons of grain in stock.

Masuka said the government is distributing food to 6.2 million out of the 9.2 million rural Zimbabweans, with the number expected to rise as another information-gathering exercise is being conducted to identify more vulnerabilities.

He said the government is also implementing the School Feeding Program where it has allocated 27 000 tons to benefit 4.5 million learners in Primary education during the third term of 2024 and first term of 2025. – New Ziana-ebsinessweekl