HARARE, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe is expecting a bumper maize harvest in the 2016/17 agricultural season after receiving good rains, agriculture minister Joseph Made said Thursday.
Although refusing to disclose estimated maize output until completion of the second crop assessment, the minister said the nation was expecting a good crop after farmers planted 1.2 million hectares of the staple maize, up from 173,000 hectares last season.
He said a government-sponsored maize command agriculture scheme was expected to produce grain enough to meet the 700,000-tonne requirement for the National Strategic Grain Reserve, which is currently holding 250,000 tonnes.
Zimbabwe produced one of its lowest maize output of 512,000 tonnes last year amid an El-Nino-induced drought that has left a quarter of the population in need of food aid.
The country requires at least 1.8 million tonnes of maize for both human and livestock consumption annually.
Addressing a parliamentary portfolio committee, Made said Zimbabwe had recorded significant increases in the hectarage put under major crops this season although a shortage of top dressing fertilizer.
The hectarage for tobacco, the main foreign currency earner for the country, stood at 107,000 hectares up from 95,000 last season, while cotton hectarage increased to 155,000 from 105,000 last year.
The minister said the current government grain storage capacity at 4 million tonnes was enough for the expected abundant harvest, though 61 million U.S. dollars was required to revamp some of the grain silos.
Zimbabwe's economy is agriculture-based.
