Posted on 08/30/2002 5:15:08 PM PDT by Clive
THE government has suspended grain imports until the end of the year arguing that humanitarian food aid will cater for the country's needs in the next four months, industry sources said this week.
Humanitarian groups this week predicted acute food shortages in the coming months as donor aid had further slowed, while government efforts were hamstrung by foreign currency shortages.
The United Nations will next week dispatch a special envoy, Terry Morris, to assess the humanitarian situation in the country and discuss the extent of famine with senior government officials. The sources said the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) had not put up any tenders for grain imports since June and that there were no plans for new imports between now and the end of the year.
The sources said to date, the government had at most imported 750,000 tonnes - discounting a Jewel Bank initiative to import about 450,000 tonnes. Zimbabwe needs about 1,8 million tonnes between now and the next harvest.
The last tender floated was for 200,000 tonnes of maize of which a Harare-based company, Timpani, was awarded a contract to import 100,000 tonnes.
Sources at the GMB said companies awarded tenders were under-performing and failing to secure maize from declining stocks on world markets. There is huge demand for maize triggered by the drought in southern Africa.
The sources said even if the GMB had stocks to run until the end of the year, it should have an on-going import programme to buy next year's requirements at this year's costs. A tonne of maize is trading at US$162 ex-South Africa and by October the cost is expected to go up by US$10.
"For argument's sake, if Zimbabwe imports 100,000 tonnes of maize now, it will save US$2 million on what it will cost by the end of the year," the source said.
An aid agency source on Wednesday said out of the US$229.4 million required for humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe, a paltry US$79.7 million had been pledged to date.
"The information we have is that there should be 426,000 tonnes coming from the Americas and I am sure this is the Jewel Bank maize," the source said. "Other than that there are no other contracts in place."
Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Regional Disaster Alleviation Trust (ZRDAT), a private sector initiative to import food, said response to the appeal for financial assistance had been slow.
"The only meaningful deals we are in the process of finalising involve two non-governmental organisations which have indicated that they have about US$60,000 to import maize," ZRDAT secretary, Priscilla Chigumba, said. "To exhaust our current permit we would require US$450 million and there is no way a single organisation can meet that."
The Trust was granted a permit to import 700,000 tonnes of maize.
Un-shucking-believable.
Probably in large part because the pie dividers now seem to be in charge just about everywhere. And since pie dividers,by their very nature,are incapable of blaming another pie divider when something goes wrong(no matter how richly deserved the blame is),the blame has to be aimed elsewhere. The preferred target is,of course,a pie baker,for not making the pie big enough in the first place. Failing that,you can always blame the higher powers for not sending rain,or send ing too much rain,or allowing the pie bakers to eat their own pies,or...
Didn't take them long to adopt the typical mind set of the welfare recipient.
Don't sent one thing to this country, run by a racist criminal.
But rhubarb is also extremely good,especially with whipped cream!
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