adminElita Chikwati and Freeman Razemba Harare Bureau
The Government has, with immediate effect, suspended importation of all agricultural produce and cancelled all existing import permits.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said there was need to revise the rules and regulations to be followed when importing agricultural produce.
“All import permits have been cancelled. This is pending the return of the old permits to the ministry so that new ones have to be issued.
“The ministry will follow certain rules and regulations that have to be observed by the licence holders,” he said.
Dr Made did not disclose when new permits would be issued.
The move has been welcomed by farmers who urged the government to consider the plight of local farmers before issuing import permits.
Farmers have complained that cheap imported produce — mainly from South Africa — is flooding the local market and negatively affecting their operations.
On the flip-side, some anlaysts say this could have massive price rammifications.
This is because the cost of production in Zimbabwe is higher than in South Africa and thus local produce costs more on the market.
Farmers, however, yesterday said the government should first establish the local production deficit so that import licenses would only be issued for that produce that was not readily available locally.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union president, Wonder Chabikwa said, “The country is importing eggs, vegetables, fruits and poultry products leaving us with nowhere to sell our produce. Some countries are dumping their produce on us and we end up losing our markets.
“As farmers, our government should give us protection on food we produce here. Some countries subsidise their farmers and gives them export incentives which make their produce cheaper compared to local produce.”
Chabikwa said they were unable to compete with subsidised farmers.
“We welcome the move as this protects us to remain productive,” he said.
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union second vice-president Berean Mukwende said he hoped security would be tightened at the borders to stamp out smuggling.
He said the cancellation of import permits should serve as a challenge to local farmers to produce quality foodstuffs.
“It’s a step in the right direction and it goes in line with Zim-Asset. We should not look only on the financial aspect but various others, such as employment creation,” Mukwende said.
He said in areas where there was irrigation, people would be productive throughout the year. Agricultural economist Midway Bhunu said this would protect local farmers against cheap imports.
“Government will save the balance of payment by reducing value of imports,” he said.
However, he noted, there could be negative effects if the matter was not implemented carefully.
“If our harvests are depressed due to climatic change and other challenges facing farmers, especially our smallholder farmers who are basically the main producers, we will have serious food shortages in the country,” he said.
Other experts said while it was important to support local farmers by availing markets, this could be better achieved by reducing, not banning imports.
In August 2013, the horticulture industry called for higher import tariffs on imported products to avert the collapse of the local industry.
Three years earlier, the Agriculture Marketing Authority imposed a ban on South African potato imports because local producers were failing to compete with their prices.
Dr Made has in the past stated that the country would handle the matter delicately and avoid blanket bans, as Zimbabwe is a Sadc and Comesa member which also needs access to export markets.
Online Reporter