Zimbabwe Reaps First Grain Surplus Since Mugabe Seizures
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Zimbabwean farmers may produce its first grain surplus since 2000, the year President Robert Mugabe’s government began backing a violent land-seizure campaign that devastated output of crops ranging from corn to tobacco and sparked a recession.
This year farmers will probably harvest 1.7 million metric tons of corn and other grains, with a surplus of 253,174 tons, according to the annual Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, known as Zimvac, which includes the Ministry of Agriculture and the United Nations World Food Programme. Zimvac interviewed 10,782 households to compile the report, it said today in an e-mailed statement.