Harare/Johannesburg - Zimbabwe has received agricultural inputs from the South African government worth over R300m, Zimbabwean state media reported Monday.
The Herald newspaper quoted Zimbabwe's Agricultural Minister Rugare Gumbo as saying Pretoria had sent, among other items, maize and sorghum seed, fertilizer and fuel.
"The seed being distributed is ideal for late planting and we expect to get some yields come harvest time," Gumbo said.
On Sunday, Thabo Masebe, a spokesperson for South African President Kgalema Motlanthe told the South African Broadcasting Corporation that Pretoria would provide agricultural assistance of R300m to Zimbabwe only once a new government is formed.
Zimbabwe, which is reeling under its worst-ever economic crisis, has been unable to supply farmers with adequate agricultural inputs for the 2008/2009 season which is already under way.
The southern African country's agricultural sector has been on a downturn for nearly a decade since President Robert Mugabe embarked on a controversial and violent land restitution programme that saw white commercial farmers stripped of their land.
The situation has been exacerbated by recurrent droughts in the region.
The Herald also reported that the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) has launched a scheme meant to provide humanitarian aid and agricultural development to Zimbabwe.
It quoted SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomao as saying the Zimbabwe Humanitarian Development Assistance Framework was meant to fight the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe which has claimed more than 1 000 lives and infected around 15 000 people since its outbreak in August.
"The team realised that under the current situation, we cannot address the humanitarian assistance if we do not address cholera," Salomao is quoted as saying.
"We are however on the ground in terms of cholera. The situation is difficult but we are receiving support from countries such as South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania, among others. It is clear that we cannot fail. Africa cannot fail on this in assisting Zimbabwe and the people," he added.
Zimbabwe has declared the cholera outbreak a national emergency and asked the international community for assistance in curbing the water-borne disease.
Motlanthe, who currently chairs the SADC, has appealed to the 15-member bloc to assist the once-prosperous nation now experiencing economic turmoil. Zimbabwe is facing an acute shortage of all essentials ranging from medical drugs, cash, food, fuel and electricity.
Hopes of ending the misery were raised in September when Mugabe and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party leader Morgan Tsvangirai signed a power-sharing deal.
But the pact has stalled as the two fight over who should control key ministries. Under the deal brokered by the former South African leader Thabo Mbeki, Mugabe would remain president while Tsvangirai would become prime minister.
Mugabe blames Western sanctions for Zimbabwe's crisis.
- Sapa