Written question asked by Andrew Turner (Conservative) on Tuesday, 5 February 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 12 February 2002. It was answered by Hilary Benn (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 February 2002 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Dept for International Development

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the supply of staple foodstuffs in Zimbabwe in each year since 1990. - Includes table.

Answer: Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the supply of staple foodstuffs in Zimbabwe in each year since 1990. [34526] Hilary Benn: Maize is the staple foodstuff of Zimbabwe. DFID monitors crop forecasts through the SADC Famine Early Warning System, which also gives historical production data as follows: Maize production _________________________________________________________________________________________________. (thousand metric tonnes) 1991 1,586 1992 361 1993 2,012 1994 2,326 1995 840 1996 2,609 1997 2,192 1998 1,418 1999 1,520 2000 2,040 2001 1,476 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Zimbabwe experienced very lean years in 1992 and 1995 when the rains failed. Maize production in these years was far short of the national requirement of around 2 million tonnes needed for human and animal consumption. The shortfall in national production in 2001, which was only 1.47 million tonnes, owes more to economic problems and disruption of farming than to climatic causes.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 34526; 380 c345-6W
Session: 2001-02
Subjects: Crops Agriculture Droughts Weather Zimbabwe Maize Agricultural products
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk