Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union Calls For Urgent National Budget Revision
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (ZFU) president Abdul Nyathi, has urged the government to revise its 2024 national budget to ensure that more funds are redirected toward buying food.
The call comes amid the prevailing El Nino-induced drought which has resulted in the wilting of crops. This is expected to significantly affect crop yields across the country.
Speaking in an interview with Xinhua, Nyathi said global food prices will likely increase if there is a high demand for grain from southern African nations which are reeling under the drought. He said:
The government should now revisit the budget and redirect it to food procurement and scout where we can get the food.
That should be done as soon as possible because prices will increase internationally as soon as the sellers have concluded that we don’t have anything to eat.
Zimbabwe received relatively good rains at the beginning of January following a dry spell late in 2023.
Farmers whose crops had died due to moisture stress during the prolonged dry spell replanted their fields.
However, the farmers lost out again after the rains stopped toward the end of January, resulting in the second batch of crops wilting again.
Nyathi said although the quality of livestock was still generally good, there was a danger the situation would deteriorate if the drought persisted. He said:
The state of livestock is still good, but if rains don’t come by April or May, the situation will deteriorate.
We are thinking about destocking, and we are also thinking about supplementary feeding, which also comes from government coffers.
According to the United Nations World Food Programme, about 2.7 million Zimbabweans will need food during the lean season between October 2023 and March 2024.
But as drought ravages the country, many more will need food assistance as the year progresses.
More: Pindula News
