VZCZCXRO0078
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0306 1050739
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150739Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4369
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2233

UNCLAS HARARE 000306 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/S FOR BWALCH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR EAID PHUM ZI
SUBJECT: FOOD SECURITY PROJECT UNDER DEVELOPMENT 
 
¶1.  On April 8, a team led by Alliance for a Green Revolution in 
Africa (AGRA) Special Advisor Tesfai Tecle briefed donors on its 
efforts to design a project to promote food security in Zimbabwe. 
Tecle said that AGRA Chair Kofi Annan was approached by many 
Zimbabweans, including Prime Minister Tsvangirai, for help.  AGRA 
contacted the World Food Program (WFP), the Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural 
Development (IFAD) to work jointly on a program for Zimbabwe when 
the opportune moment came; they decided the time was right at the 
end of March.  Tecle led a team to Harare where the group took 
advantage of extensive groundwork a European Union team had carried 
out on food security options.  Tecle noted that a joint World 
Bank/UN/EC Assessment Mission is now underway and said that any long 
term proposals would await the results of that effort.  Tecle's team 
would draft a project proposal by the end of April and seek funding 
for a short-term project of input support and extension service 
provision to boost the principle grain harvest in May 2010. 
 
¶2.  FAO Senior Emergency Advisor for Africa Daniele Donati said that 
the AGRA team's proposal would target 600,000 communal farming 
households cultivating an average of less than a hectare each.  This 
would reach about two-thirds of communal farmers.  Initial estimates 
of project cost were about US$120 million, of which US$20-30 million 
was already available.  If fully funded, the initiative would boost 
production by as much as 600,000 tons, covering well over half of 
Zimbabwe's food gap.  However, funds would be needed by June/July, 
and even early funding would not ensure availability of fertilizer 
(with need estimated at 120,000 tons). 
 
¶3.  AGRA team members agreed with donors that dependency syndrome is 
a real concern and indicated they were considering ways to either 
recover seed costs after harvest or require some kind of community 
reinvestment from participants.  Their bottom line, however, was 
that the need to avoid another massive food security shortfall in 
2010 justified taking some risk of undermining market mechanisms and 
reinforcing subsistence farmers' expectations of input handouts. 
WFP Deputy Regional Director Timo Pakkala told donors that this 
appeal for funds would be on top of the recently launched 
Consolidated UN appeal for Zimbabwe which amounts to US$567 million, 
of which 60 percent (or US$340 million) relates to food security. 
 
 
¶4.  COMMENT:  We hope that the AGRA proposal will include measures 
to guard against reinforcing farmers' expectations that inputs will 
be provided free to those who wait.  Our discussions with the GOZ 
indicate that they favor market-based approaches to food security 
whenever possible.  AGRA could consider introducing revolving credit 
or microcredit schemes to prevent dependency.  We have concerns, as 
well, about the optimistic yields projected for rainfall dependent 
communal agriculture.  Reference is frequently made to communal 
agriculture's capacity in the 1990s to feed the nation, but this was 
only the case in years of good rainfall.  The ability to mobilize 
and pay for an adequate number of extension agents to quickly train 
600,000 farmers is another concern, as know-how in communal 
agriculture has also declined. 
 
¶5.  COMMENT CONTINUED: However, we share the AGRA team's desire to 
reduce food insecurity following the main 2010 harvest, and we agree 
with their assessment that action is needed now to avoid another 
lost year.  This would indicate that there is a need for expanded 
donor coordination on the various mechanisms to address this crop 
Qdonor coordination on the various mechanisms to address this crop 
cycle.  We will explore ways that USG support for rural livelihoods 
could be coordinated with this broader project.  The AGRA team's 
proposal addresses food insecurity at the household level, but not 
the elephant in the room - the challenge of resuscitating 
consistently high-yielding commercial agriculture that will provide 
long-term food security and earn foreign exchange for Zimbabwe 
through the export of surplus production.  END COMMENT. 
 
MCGEE