Zimbabwe government declares 2007 drought year: newspaper

Mar 20, 2007, 9:11 GMT

Harare - President Robert Mugabe's government has declared 2007 a drought year citing poor and erratic rains, the official Herald said Tuesday.

New Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo said crops in some areas were a complete write-off, the paper reported.

Zimbabwe has suffered poor harvests since Mugabe launched his programme of white land seizures in 2000. Low yields have consistently been blamed upon drought by the authorities.

Government critics however lay much of the blame on the inexperience of new black farmers and in some cases their lack of dedication. Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono recently said some of the new farmers were 'lazy.'

The agriculture minister said the dry spell had not only affected traditionally drought prone areas in the south of the country. Crops in the greenbelt areas of Mashonaland and Manicaland had also suffered, he said.

Last week the authorities said they expected to harvest only one third of Zimbabwe's annual required maize crop, which stands at 1.8 million tonnes.

The official grain procurement body has already started importing 400,000 tonnes of maize, the Herald said, a financial commitment that will weigh heavily upon foreign currency-starved Zimbabwe.