ZIMBABWE'S much-ballyhooed "Mother of all seasons" looks set to become the "Mother of all poor harvests", agricultural experts warned last week.

They warned, contrary to official predictions of a bumper harvest, of a "serious food crisis".

Their projection: the harvest may only amount to 30 percent of the total national maize requirements.

The experts blame the crisis on poor agricultural planning by the government and the excessive rains which have been falling since last December.

Most farmers failed to plant on time because they could not access seed, fertilizer and fuel, among other vital inputs.

They were repeatedly promised the inputs by the government, but in the end only a few managed to get them.

The situation was exacerbated by the heavy rains which resulted in water-logging, a condition detrimental to crop growth.

The continuous rains made even weeding virtually impossible, resulting in maize competing with weeds for sunlight and nutrients.

The experts estimate that Zimbabwe would produce between 500 000 and 600 000 tonnes of maize against a national requirement of two million tonnes.

In the end, about 1, 5 million tonnes will have to be imported to feed the population.

Already about 3. 5 million people are surviving on food aid, according to United Nations estimates.

An agricultural expert, who asked not to be named, warned Zimbabwe could face a food crisis of the magnitude of the 1991/2 season , during which millions survived on food handouts. That crisis, ironically, was caused by drought.

The expert said although the excessive rains were partly to blame for the crisis, poor planning by government was the major factor.

"It might be too early to give an estimate but to be honest it is doubtful that we are going to get anything above 500 000 tonnes of maize this year," he said.

His estimate was corroborated by the MDC's shadow minister of agriculture, Renson Gasela, himself an agricultural expert.

But Gasela's estimate for the maize harvest was 600 000 tonnes.

"We are going to have a disastrous year because of the government's failure to plan," he said. "Farmers failed to access seed, fertilizer or fuel in time. We would be lucky if we managed to get 600 000 tonnes of maize."

Among the areas seriously affected by water logging are Muzambani, Middle Sabi in Chipinge and parts of Masvingo province.

Floods washed away crops near river banks in some areas.

Gasela, the former Grain Marketing Board (GMB) boss, said the seed and fertilizer industries failed to supply the commodities because of the unviable prices gazetted by the government, shortage of foreign currency, power outages and erratic supply of coal.

Farmers who spoke to The Standard said they obtained fertilizer when the crop was already reaching maturity stage. Most of them said they failed to access loans under the Agriculture Sector Productive Enhancement Facility (ASPEF) in time to be of any use.

"The whole thing was a hotchpotch," said Amos Mutingwende, a farmer from Uzumba in Murewa. "There was no seed, no fertilizer and no loans for farmers, except for the beneficiaries of the political patronage."

In some areas, the tractors distributed to farmers by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe were turned into "minibuses" to ferry people in the rural areas or hired to transport Chibuku (opaque beer) to bottle stores. ."

Subsidised diesel obtained by the farmers for what some called "a song" was being sold on the black market instead.

Agriculture minister Rugare Gumbo and his deputy David Chapfika could not be reached for comment last week.

But two weeks ago, Gumbo was upbeat about the prospect of a bumper harvest, despite indications to the contrary.

The government even dubbed this the "Mother of All Season."

Gumbo encouraged farmers to plant maize although the season is edging towards the end and the RBZ is still distributing ploughs in the rural areas under the agricultural mechanization programme.

Some of the ploughs have been used to buy votes.

But a Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union (ZCFU) official said planting maize now "is a waste of resources and effort" as the crop would not mature.

"Maize requires heat unit (enough sunlight and warm soil) which we don't have now. The maize will grow but will not produce a quality crop," he said.

The expert said he was concerned that farm acquisitions were continuing although President Robert Mugabe last year called for an end to the takeovers.

Last week the government gazetted over 30 commercial farms for acquisition, sending a chill down the spines of the remaining white commercial farmers.

Food shortages have plagued Zimbabwe for the past seven years, following the invasions of white-owned commercial farmers in 2000.

The invasions, spearheaded by war veterans, nearly decimated the agriculture sector, which once earned the country the accolade of the breadbasket of southern Africa.