ZIMBABWE has harvested 560 000 metric tonnes of wheat, up from 468 000 last year, Lands and Agriculture permanent secretary, Obert Jiri, said yesterday.
“But as of Monday, today, we were on over 560,000 metric tonnes which have been harvested, which we have accounted for,” Jiri said at a press briefing in the capital on Monday.
“Certainly, we are still counting and still collating the figures, but we should be able to account for everything in the grain that is usable and also the grain that has been rained on.”
Jiri applauded farmers who managed to surpass the previous production record, adding that he expects the same to happen the next season.
He encouraged farmers to continue planting, as inputs were available nationwide.
He, however, acknowledged the slow movement in traditional grains.
“We encourage farmers to take a hit of the agroecological tailoring to ensure that the crop that they are putting on the ground is suitable for the particular agroecological region," he said.
A bumper harvest of the cereal in the 2022 farming season saw the government putting a stop to flour and wheat imports, with Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka declaring Zimbabwe had enough to be self-sustaining.
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Zimbabwe's annual wheat consumption amounts to 360,000 tonnes.
However, flour imports pose a threat to local; farmers and millers
A move in March to reopen borders for imports of the cereal had a heavy knock-on on millers who scaled down while a number reportedly shut down.
