ZIMBABWE formerly the breadbasket of Africa might have to import more than 200 000 tonnes of wheat to avert severe bread shortages next year, according to farming industry officials. The officials said the country would have to import the wheat from South Africa and Argentina because of an expected 47 percent decline in production this year. Wheat is Zimbabwe's second major staple food crop after maize and in the past has largely been produced by large-scale commercial farmers. However, the seizure of commercial land since February 2000 has led to a drop in wheat output. Farmers said this year's wheat crop was the lowest in 23 years, following a trend set by tobacco, whose output this year is the worst in 50 years. A commodity executive officer with the Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), said wheat output would tumble to only 80 000 tonnes from 150 000 tonnes last year. This year's crop will be a third of Zimbabwe’s national requirements and is 71 percent lower than that produced in 2001. Large-scale commercial farmers, who have produced more than 90 percent of the crop in the past, would only produce 25 000 tonnes of wheat this season, and the remainder will be grown by small-scale growers. Industry officials said wheat, a winter crop, was not suitable for small-scale farmers because it required a high degree of mechanisation on farms. Most small-scale farmers, including those resettled on land seized by the government, do not have the resources to purchase or lease equipment, and have also been hard hit by shortages of inputs. Production costs, which have risen by between 67 and 200 percent in the past year have discouraged small-scale farmers from growing wheat. Some small-scale farmers who managed to plant wheat have failed to harvest the crop because of the unavailability of combine harvesters.
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