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Perspective, Stephen Mpofu
A no-holds-barred usurper of the diet of  many Africans, reducing it to a virtual proverb in many countries, including our own, in postmodernity and with disastrous consequences at many a household heath.

If you (yes, you) have not guessed right, maize introduced to Africa from South America by Portuguese explorers searching for a sea route to the East is the key subject to this discourse.

Over the years the staple has teamed up with cash crops — tobacco and cotton — to dethrone sorghum, finger-millet and pearl-millet from their historical throne as allies of the African belly in many countries.

The small grains held sway in arid regions in this country and in many others on the African continent before maize virtually nudged them into the shade where they remain today as maize steals the limelight with more lucrative prices offered for the white gold on the market.

Today many Zimbabweans in dire need of food blame changes in weather patterns with El Nino currently the main scapegoat, for instance, while conveniently ignoring their folly in thumbing their noses on small grains which have staying power in regions that seasonally experience low rainfall preferring instead to grow maize which needs a lot of rainfall as well as cotton or tobacco for the high prices they fetch on both the local and international markets.

Indeed the huge bill spent by the Government on maize imports in the wake of poor harvests resulting from the El Nino onslaught would have been reduced had farmers in arid regions invested their effort and money on small grains to avert the hunger now stalking many a household, with immediate future rainfall prospects in many parts of the country still far, far from appetising.

In articles published recently in this and other, sister newspapers experts worried at the decline in the popularity of small grains have urged the Government to step up efforts in promoting the grains in point in its agricultural policies to bolster food security in the country.  For instance, they suggested that small grains be part of the new command agriculture programme meant to increase food suppy to the Zimbabwean population by growing crops under irrigation.

Also one would have expected to hear more talk by the power that be on the need for farmers being allocated land to grow small grains, where necessary,  as a condition for the provision of loans to farmers, old and new,  especially under 99-year leases.

In the absence of a critical bias as well as financial and other support in favour of small grains, it should not come as a surprise should those roped into command agriculture and others in possession of farms were to start growing exotic grass for export as stockfeed to earn more money while children in many parts of the country push distended bellies caused by malnutrition.

Expects also have pointed to the need for research on small grains and for their proper storage to avert a situation whereby  farmers rely on recycled seed with obvious, diminished value and decreased output.

Efficient marketing of small grains by seed houses, for instance, experts have said,  will obviously promote their production with farmers eyeing better and increased rewards for their effort.

Moreover, it is commonly known in the village setup that food made from small grains “stays in the belly”, energising workers to increase their output and in that way help grow both their domestic and their national economies.

This pen feels in the final analysis, decolonising the African mind will remain incomplete until the influence of maize on the minds and bellies of Africans has also been decolonised. Small grains remain an unmitigated panacea for food insecurity in Zimbabwe and elsewhere on the continent.