More than one-third of Zimbabweans face food shortages

…”While drought devastated crops in many areas, Zimbabwe’s overall production was also hampered by insufficient fertilizer, fuel and tractors, and by the country’s crumbling irrigation system,” said Henri Josserand, Chief of FAO’s Global Information and Early Warning System.

“Most importantly, uneconomic prices set by the government have discouraged many farmers from producing surplus cereals for sale.”

These factors resulted in a 6 percent decrease in the amount of land planted with cereals compared with last year, and a substantial reduction in the average yield per hectare. Overall, the mission estimates that the April/May 2007 harvest in Zimbabwe is just 925 000 tonnes of cereals, including 799 000 tonnes of maize and 126 000 tonnes of sorghum and millet