Trends in Profitability and Measure of Government Protection in Sorghum Production (Zimbabwe)

Abstract

Despite failures of government policy to stimulate sustained growth in sorghum production in the face of
increased climatic shocks on maize, there have been very little efforts to understand sorghum protection
by the government. The major objective of this paper is to determine the level of government protection
of the sorghum production. The main sources of the data were the Central Statistics Office, FAOSTAT and
the Ministry of Agriculture. The Nominal Protection Coefficient (NPC) was used to determine the level of
protection from 1980 to 2010. Over the past 30years there have been swings from protectionism to liberal
approaches in Zimbabwe. Policies and investment strategies should be designed to exploit the
competitive advantages of these small grains which is the basis for improving the productivity of the
extensive semi-arid regions of the country and of their rural labor force. Gains to the economy will also
accrue from improving rural food security, reducing the need for drought relief, lowering the level of
subsidies underlying grain markets, and, at least in the short run, stemming migration from rural to urban
areas.