The Sunday Mail
Africa Moyo
Zimbabwe will this week host the inaugural national food conference and expo which seeks to locate avenues of pushing the country to attain food security as espoused by one of the four main objectives of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation. The Zimbabwe Food Conference and Expo 2015 scheduled for this Wednesday will bring together Government and players from industry, agriculture and banking.
The event comes at a time when Government is importing about 700 000 metric tonnes of maize to cater for maize deficits as a result of a poor harvest last season.
Zimbabwe human and livestock maize consumption is pegged at about 2,4 million metric tonnes annually.
Zimbabwe Food Conference and Expo 2015 chairperson Mr Tafadzwa Musarara said, “Top on the agenda of the conference is the issue of food imports, debate on Government policy against Genetically Modified grain imports. Industry wants to give its perspective on GMOs because it is being forced to compete with GMO products.
“Imports have also put the fate of the poultry industry on the line because when one rears their chickens; they suddenly and sadly coincide with a huge consignment of chickens that are half the price. “So farmers are unsure whether to rear chickens or not. Overally, chicken imports are now affecting the entire meat industry since consumers are just going for whatever is affordable.”
The conference will also tackle contract farming issues which have thrust farmers on the receiving end as contractors fail to pay the pre-planting prices when the crop is harvested.
Cotton farmers, especially in Gokwe, have been the hardest hit by low contract prices.
Maize farmers have not been spared, resulting in some of them shifting to growing tobacco which has decent prices.
Mr Musarara said financial institutions have been “shying away from contract farming” because of the influx of cheap imports. “The conference is going to look into those issues to say what binding policies should be put in place,” he said.
The event is scheduled to be officially opened by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
