Winter crop may ease shortages

The jury is still out on the Zambian government's ambitious winter maize growing project, as the expense involved has raised concerns over its long-term sustainability. About 2.9 million Zambians are faced with hunger due to two consecutive droughts that have devastated the country's maize crops. Maize, Zambia's staple food, is traditionally planted during the rainy season, from October up to about May, and harvested in June. The winter crops were planted from May and harvesting began in October. The viability of the project has been questioned by critics who point to the relatively high cost of producing winter maize. The common refrain is that it's "too much money for too little food". Mark Burton, a large-scale commercial farmer in Chiawa situated more than 200-km south of the capital Lusaka, said he doubted whether he would make a profit from the first crop of the pilot project. The crop was harvested at a ceremony attended by various diplomats and Zambia's Minister of Agriculture, Mundia Sikatana. "It has been very costly to us [the winter maize project]. We have had to build a 20km electric wire fence, employ about 500 young men to guard the farm with two to three guard dogs plus we have had to approach the banks to borrow up to US $1.5 million to cultivate some 940 hectares and buy inputs," Burton said. He is one of few farmers in Zambia who are able to approach a commercial bank and borrow large sums of money at high interest rates, which sometimes climb above 50 percent. The majority, mostly peasant farmers who contribute significantly to the national food basket, cannot get bank overdrafts, nervermind loans. The influential Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU), which has a membership of more than 600,000 farmers - both peasant and commercial - was sceptical that winter maize was the answer to food insecurity. "This is a very costly venture because you are talking about irrigation throughout [the maize field]. Using electricity and buying expensive irrigation equipment. The current situation in Zambia is that very, very few people are able to borrow and repay at current interest rates. It's very difficult to start such a project. This [winter maize] must only be seen as something that can contribute to food security and not as the ultimate answer [to food shortages]," the ZNFU's Songowayo Zyambo told IRIN. Even those engaged in the winter maize pilot project admit they will have problems continuing and may get less money than expected. "From the 940 hectares we hope to harvest a minimum of 6,000 mt to a maximum of 8,000 mt, which we hope to increase in future. I don't think we will see any profits for a few years to come. Literally, I think we will be a little short [of money] to get into the next crop but we will manage somehow," Burton noted. Others like Gary Nkombo, a private sector consultant, dismissed the project, saying the only winners were the large-scale commercial farmers and not the poor for whom hunger was a daily reality. "If you put pen to paper and do some serious calculations, you will find that from 7,000 mt for instance, you can only get 140,000 50-kg bags of un-milled maize. Milled and bagged in 25-kg bags, you have 224,000 bags capable of feeding only two million people in Lusaka for two weeks - assuming an average family of eight consumes one bag a fortnight. It is nothing to be excited about," Nkombo said. According to government statistics, Zambia's national maize consumption is 40,000 mt per month, prompting suggestions from critics that the government would need at least 170 such projects to make an impact. But project managers were unconcerned, because the government has assured them of a ready market for the maize at US $220 per mt. The Burtons in Chiawa earned Euros 1 million in just under five months when the Italian government bought maize from them directly, in response to Zambia's appeal for aid in May. While detractors and supporters agreed that something had to be done to achieve food security, they remained convinced that the winter maize project was not a miracle cure. And would probably work better in a country where interest rates were not as high. Despite a critical food shortage, President Levy Mwanawasa rejected genetically altered maize consignments from the United States, saying the food could be harmful to human beings and the environment. He is expected to make a decision soon on whether to accept the maize in milled form after receiving a report from scientists on its safety.