Zimbabwe’s winter wheat production is reported to have dropped significantly due to poor rains and power cuts.
Agritex Acting provincial officer for Masvingo, Aaron Muchazivepi, told ZBC News on the sidelines of a field day at Mutendi farm in Masvingo that a number of farmers opted not to grow the crop due to challenges mentioned. Muchazviwanepi said:
We faced water challenges as we did not receive enough rains and farmers ended up not taking up the crop. We also had challenges of load shedding and that affected the winter crop as well as fertiliser availability.
The sad news comes when the country already has a huge wheat deficit which resulted in bread shortages and increased prices for the commodity.
Moreover, there are reports that US$3 billion that was meant for Command Agriculture was misused by Sakunda Holdings that had been contracted to implement the programme.
More: ZBC News