Bulawayo – Blue Ribbon Foods, one of Zimbabwe’s biggest milling companies, has closed its Bulawayo plant after running out of maize grain, dealing a blow to workers, retailers, and household food security at a time when millions are already struggling with shortages of basic commodities.
The closure has left dozens of employees uncertain about their future and raised alarms across the milling industry, with stakeholders warning that Zimbabwe could soon face a man-made food crisis unless urgent action is taken.
During a site visit on Monday, Nqabutho Mkhize, the company’s Matabeleland North sales coordinator, revealed the scale of the crisis. He said all seven silos at the plant—each with a holding capacity of 180 tonnes—have been empty since April.
“We have seven silos outside that hold about 180 tonnes each. They have been empty since April. We are wondering when they will actually have full capacity again,” Mkhize explained.
At full operation, the Bulawayo facility runs two shifts daily, with 34 employees per shift producing up to 60 tonnes of maize meal. For months, however, production has been at a standstill, leaving workers’ livelihoods hanging in the balance and disrupting the steady supply of mealie meal to consumers in the southern regions.
Blue Ribbon’s closure is the latest in a string of industrial setbacks. Major retailers such as OK Zimbabwe and TM Pick n Pay, as well as wholesalers like N. Richards Group, have already scaled back operations due to a combination of foreign currency shortages, collapsing consumer demand, and disrupted supply chains.
Industry experts warn that milling plants shutting down will hit urban populations hardest, as food insecurity deepens in cities where households are heavily reliant on purchased maize meal.
David Moyo, chairperson of the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) Southern Region, painted a grim picture of the situation.
Blue Ribbon Foods Shuts Bulawayo Milling Plant Amid Acute Maize Shortages
“Now it is hard to fill even a 30-tonne truck. Some days, all we get is two or three 50kg bags. It can take a whole week just to fill one truck,” Moyo said, underlining how acute the maize shortages have become.
The shortages have been exacerbated by the government’s controversial June 2025 decision to ban maize imports, a policy originally justified by claims of a bumper harvest.
In May, President Emmerson Mnangagwa told the Zanu PF Central Committee that Zimbabwe had achieved food security, while Lands and Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka later declared that 2.9 million tonnes of cereals had been harvested—well above the 2.2 million tonnes required for national consumption.
But independent economists have dismissed those figures as inflated. Tinashe Murapata, among others, has estimated the real harvest closer to one million tonnes, less than half the official claims and far below what is required to sustain the country.
The gap between official pronouncements and reality has left milling firms such as Sunset Marketing, National Foods, Mathokozisi Milling, and Bulateke Milling struggling to keep doors open, with many forced to retrench workers or cut production.
With mills closing and supermarket shelves thinning, trade experts are sounding alarms about an impending crisis. Jacques Pieener of Commodity Insight Africa said government’s insistence on maintaining the maize import ban prioritises political optics over economic logic.
“The government is prioritising optics over reality, but the consequences will be catastrophic. If this continues, Zimbabwe could soon be facing a food crisis of its own making,” Pieener warned.
Economists argue that shutting down imports while local supply remains inadequate will inevitably drive up prices of maize meal, pushing urban households deeper into food insecurity. Inflation is already eroding purchasing power, and unemployment remains high, leaving many families unable to cope with further price spikes.
Moyo of GMAZ appealed to government to deregulate maize imports, arguing that allowing private players to source grain on the open market would ease shortages and stabilise prices.
“We are not asking for handouts,” Moyo stressed. “The private sector is here to complement government efforts. But we need an environment where maize can be imported freely and prices set by the market. Ultimately, deregulating maize imports will make mealie meal affordable for every Zimbabwean.”
Analysts say the maize shortage highlights long-standing structural weaknesses in Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector, where production remains heavily dependent on rainfall and underinvestment in irrigation. Until these underlying issues are addressed, they argue, periodic crises will continue to disrupt food supply.
As industrial giants falter one after another and retail chains shutter branches nationwide, Blue Ribbon’s Bulawayo shutdown has become a potent symbol of Zimbabwe’s worsening economic malaise. Once a beacon of food production in the southern region, the plant now stands idle—its silos empty, its machines silent, and its workers anxious.
For many observers, the collapse of the mill is not just about maize. It is about governance, accountability, and the widening gap between official narratives and the daily struggles of ordinary Zimbabweans. Unless decisive steps are taken, they warn, the silence at Blue Ribbon could soon echo across the nation’s food industry, with devastating consequences for households already stretched to the limit.
Source- ZimEye
