Agriculture and Mechanisation deputy minister Seiso Moyo has urged Zimbabwean farmers to critically examine the ongoing climatic changes affecting rainfall patterns and adjust their farming methods accordingly to minimise crop losses during droughts.
In an interview with NewsDay early this week, Moyo said stakeholders in the agricultural sector should seriously monitor the shifting weather phenomena which are believed to be linked to global warming. “We must investigate the challenges that we face as a country in terms of climate change in order to adapt to the weather patterns,” he said.
“This would help us to know how to alleviate the problem of drought which we have continued to face for many years.”
Moyo said the government was committed to improving the food situation in the country. He said since the country faced a serious drought this year, the government would import maize from within the Southern African Development Community to avert starvation.
“We were expecting 1,6 million tonnes of maize harvest this year, but we only got 900 000 tonnes,” he said.
“This means we have a 700 000 tonnes deficit. “But when we look at our reserves we had 400 000 tonnes, which means we are only to import 300 000 tonnes from within the Sadc region.”
