Consultations are taking place at political and technical levels to assist Zimbabwe to launch the 2008/09 agricultural season and avert food shortages next year, a Cabinet Minister said on Monday.
Agriculture Minister Rugare Gumbo confirmed that consultations were taking place to put together a financial package for the country to mobilize inputs required to ensure success of the forthcoming season, the state media New Ziana said on Monday.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki last month announced that SADC countries had put together a package to assist Zimbabwe this agricultural season.
President Mbeki announced the package when leaders of the three main political parties in Zimbabwe signed a power sharing agreement.
Zimbabwe is experiencing shortages of critical inputs to kick off the season, diminishing prospects for the country to avert hunger next year.
In the meantime, the inputs were being sold at selected shops in foreign currency with a 10 kg packet of seed going for 40 dollars while a 50 kg bag of fertilizer was going for 80 dollars.
Farmers without agricultural equipment were also failing to prepare land since they could not afford costs of hiring tractors whose owners were also reportedly charging more than 70 dollars per hectare.
It is reliably understood that officials from SADC and the AU last week asked the Zimbabwean Government to specify its requirements for the coming agricultural season.
Zimbabwean Government officials from the Ministry of Agriculture as well as the Inputs Mobilisation and Utilisation were understood to have met SADC and AU officials on the sideline of talks to allocate ministries between the three political parties at a local hotel last week.
Sources close to the talks said the SADC and AU team told the Zimbabwean authorities that they were ready with the financial package but would only release it when the talks were concluded.
Talks to allocate ministries collapsed on Friday over the Ministry of Home Affairs which Zanu PF and the MDC had agree to rotate every six months but failed to agree on who would occupy it first.
The parties agreed to refer the matter to the Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics Defence and Security which was scheduled to meet in Mbabane, Swaziland on Monday to hear presentations from the facilitator and the three party leaders.
It has, however, emerged that MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai did not travel to Mbabane because the Zimbabwean government refused to release his passport.
President Robert Mugabe and splinter MDC leader Arthur Mutambara travelled to Mbabane for the talks.