Bubi, Zimbabwe — Standing next to her traditional wooden maize store in western Zimbabwe, farmer Lindiwe Ncube gestures towards the empty compartments that spell trouble for her family's future.
However, Zimbabwe's maize production is still expected to fall by 43% in the 2021-2022 season due to poor rainfall, a government assessment found in May. The UN’s World Food Programme said in January that more than 5-million Zimbabweans — a third of the population — were facing hunger, and fears are rising that the government order to sell maize will only make things worse as people struggle with soaring living costs.
However, later in May, the lands ministry ordered the GMB to crack down on “side-marketing” — referring to unofficial or black market maize sales — after receiving only about 5,000 tonnes of the 30,000 tonnes it anticipated had been harvested. Some farmers are putting their maize on the black market, where a tonne can sell for more than double the state price.
“This means 7.9-million people are living on $1.90 a day and will have difficulty in putting food on the table if you take their maize,” Mugano noted.
What drought? The one from three years ago?