Time to boost local maize production

assessments he announced.
The most important of these were the statistics on agriculture production. The statistics on the production of maize were the most interesting as maize is the staple crop in Africa.
Millions of Africans depend on maize for their food without which there would be hunger of unprecedented proportions.
One can understand that in drought-prone countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia and other parts of Kenya, no maize can be grown successfully.
However, in our case the minister was concerned about those areas that receive enough rain but fail to utilise these factors to produce for the nation.
What caught my eye was that the maize production was averaging less than a tonnes per hectare. The actual figure he mentioned was 0,7 tonnes per hectare.
What does this mean? If the farmers claim that they spend at least US$300 per hectare to produce about 0,7 tonnes, then something is very wrong.
Farmers have been known to ask for improved prices for their produce, at least US$400 per tonne of maize.
They claim that their input costs of fertiliser, seed and labour per hectare are about US$300.
Where the problem arises is that other farmers in South Africa and the USA are reported to spend about US$200 per hectare on their input costs.
Furthermore their yield per hectare is about seven to 10 tonnes of maize. The price of maize from these countries is about US$100 per tonne on the international market.
The farmers in South Africa can make a profit from US$100 a tonne while the farmers in Zimbabwe are demanding US$400 a tonne as the producer price.
How can the farmers in Zimbabwe compete with imported maize, which a miller can get at US$100 a tonne?
The consumer of maize meal will benefit from the low price if the maize is imported rather than procured locally.
What may be at stake between the different prices is technology in the production of maize.
Even if the Zimbabwean farmer spends more on inputs per hectare, farmers in the USA and South Africa achieve higher yields.
The difference in production is due to the fact that, especially in the USA, yellow maize is preferable to white maize.
Production in the USA is highly mechanised while in Zimbabwe labour costs are high due to the fact that the farmer lacks sophisticated machinery and suitable chemicals.
What about farming skills? The majority of the farmers have not been involved in commercial farming before.
Commercial farming is a highly skilled occupation. While the yields are low per hectare, it is uneconomic to farm if the farmer cannot guarantee to pay back the loans after the sale of the produce.
Which bank would be able to advance loans if the yields are so low as the Finance Minister indicated in his mid-year financial report?
Another factor for the reduced production is that nearly all the machinery is imported while farmers in South Africa and the USA acquire locally manufactured farming equipment.
This gives the farmers in those countries an access to low priced equipment compared to the Zimbabwean farmer. But, after acquiring sophisticated equipment, why should the yield per hectare of maize be still low in Zimbabwe if all the parameters like rain, fertilisers, etc, are the same?
The reason could be that the Zimbabwean farmer might lack skills, which should be imparted to him.
Everybody knows that graduate teachers have to get diplomas in order to be effective in the classroom.
The same should be applied to the farmers. The farmers should enrol for farming courses at agricultural colleges during the off-season when they are not tending to their fields.
They could also get in the farm training from extension officers. The perennial issue of insufficient inputs must be laid to rest with improved skills.
The same goes for industry. The production per unit is very low compared to other countries.
Once again, it is because of lack of skills in the labour force as well as that of management.
Many institutions, such as the medical fraternity, are receiving millions of dollars to fund improved skills in teaching and health service.
The same should be accorded to the agriculture industry as well other sectors in the economy.
Reports that customs duties are to be levied on imported foodstuffs to protect local production from competition may have been imposed too soon.
Imported foodstuffs are being sold at a lower price because of highly sophisticated production methods and technology.
Here in Zimbabwe, prices of locally manufactured products will be higher than imported foreign products. The threshold salaries in Zimbabwe are very low to sustain local industries. It is important to support local industries by charging customs duties on imported products if locally produced items can be of high quality especially if there is imported technology and investment.
What is required is knowledge economy, which can only be sustained by a highly skilled workforce either in agriculture or industry to improve the yield per unit at low cost to be competitive.