Zimbabwe has secured a critical early buffer against hunger, with the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) delivering more than 248,000 tonnes of grain to the Grain Marketing Board.

This comes as the country braces for an almost certain El Niño drought.

Data released today, 3 November, shows ARDA delivered 187,704 tonnes of summer cereals from the 2025/26 season.

It also delivered 60,529 tonnes of winter wheat, with harvesting still underway.

The intervention is timely.

Agriculture Minister Dr Anxious Masuka has warned Zimbabwe is “almost 100 percent certain” to experience below-normal rainfall.

This will be a result of a strong El Niño warming of the Central Pacific beyond 3 degrees Celsius.

The Meteorological Services Department has already classified the 2026/27 season as a drought year.

Under its ambitious 2026/27 Summer Programme, ARDA is now targeting 100,000 hectares across its estates, joint ventures, irrigation business units and clustered smallholders to further build the Strategic Grain Reserve.

The GMB confirms it has so far purchased 345,000 tonnes of cereals.

This has already exceeded the 328,000 tonnes distributed during the devastating 2024 drought.

But the numbers remain sobering.

National cereal requirement is 2.27 million tonnes against a projected 663,188-tonne deficit.

FAO has warned of 65% probability of below-normal rainfall and over 6 million Zimbabweans at risk.

For policymakers at the Pre-Budget Seminar in Bulawayo, the message is clear: reserves alone will not be enough.

The 2027 Budget must fund irrigation, timely input distribution, and on-time payments to farmers.