With arrival of rainy season, perennial scramble in Zimbabwe for seed, fertilizer
Thursday, October 22, 2009
- 17 September 2011: Zimbabwe minister warns media
- 27 June 2011: Funeral held for former Zambian President Frederick Chiluba
- 9 April 2011: White farmer who beat Mugabe in court over land seizures, dies
- 10 September 2010: Air Zimbabwe pilots 'face dismissal' over pay strike
- 5 August 2010: Mass panic as Zimbabwean officials fake air crash
As Zimbabwe's rainy season approaches, farmers in the Wedza district, Mashonaland East province, are worried that again this year they won't be able to locate or afford the seed, fertilizer, and other inputs needed to get a maize crop in the ground.
Aiming to relieve such shortages of inputs, Christian Care is among the non-governmental organizations working with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the European Union to implement an agricultural inputs support scheme.
Christian Care said it is now providing farmers in the Midlands with fertilizer and seeds.
Experts said most farmers are struggling to obtain inputs because the government has cut back on programs to finance planting, instead urging farmers to borrow from banks. But banks insist on land as collateral, though all farmland has been nationalized.
Even farmers resettled under land reform since 2000 have only so-called offer letters granting them working rights, but banks will accept neither these nor livestock as collateral.
Christian Care Director Forbes Matonga reported that his is one of seven organizations reaching out to small farmers under the FAO program.
As the rainy season begins, cholera is also now a growing concern. Residents of Zimbabwe, fearing a repeat of the 2008 epidemic that killed thousands, are struggling to complete precautionary measures.
[edit] Related news
- "Five cholera deaths recorded in Zimbabwe amid fears of new epidemic" — Wikinews, October 20, 2009
[edit] Sources
- Jonga Kandemiiri. "With Arrival of Rainy Season, Perennial Scramble in Zimbabwe for Seed, Fertilizer" — October 20, 2009
- Griffin Shea. "Zimbabwe in race against time to prevent new cholera outbreak" — AFP, October 18, 2009
