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Elita Chikwati–Senior Agriculture Reporter
OVER 11 million people are set to be empowered through the Presidential Inputs Scheme to ensure the attainment of a upper middle income economy by 2030.
The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement has come up with eight Presidential Inputs schemes meant to leave no village or household behind.
The schemes are the Presidential Inputs Scheme, the Presidential Cotton Scheme, the Presidential Blitz Tick Grease, Presidential Rural Horticulture Scheme, Presidential Community Fisheries Scheme, Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme, the Presidential Grain Protectant Scheme and the Presidential Rural Goat Pass-on Scheme.
All the schemes have been tailor made to suit the intended beneficiaries.
Lands, Agriculture Fisheries Water and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Anxious Masuka said this on Monday during a virtual discussion on reinforcing the sustainability of agriculture in Zimbabwe.
In his presentation titled, “Context of agriculture and contribution to Vision 2030’, Minister Masuka said the eight Presidential Schemes were meant to develop the country. He said Government had crafted the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, which seeks to grow the agriculture sector to a US$8,2 billion industry, focusing on climate-proofing the sector at individual household level through the Pfumvudza/ Intwasa Programme, and dam construction to enhance large-scale farming.
“We have also looked at the ecosystem and looked at the Ministry’s role on that. For Government, it must play the role of promoting and inactively intervene by itself or through agencies,” he said.
There are agencies promoting production in the cotton and tobacco industries.
Minister Masuka said Government used various methods to create an enabling environment to promote food production and food security.
“Through the Agriculture Recovery Plan, we would want the private sector to finance their raw materials, 40 percent of their annual requirements.
“For Vision 2030 to happen, rural agriculture development should cause rural industrialisation and lead to the uplifting of livelihoods,” he said.
The ministry is also looking at reforming and restructuring parastatals to increase production.
A number of parastatals including the Grain Marketing Board, the Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) and Agribank have been restructured to increase agricultural productivity.
Minister Masuka said since the Land Reform Programme, Zimbabwe has not had a tailor-made organisation to meet the financial needs of the new crop of farmers on the ground.
“The brick and mortar collateral is what propelled agriculture in Zimbabwe, an institution that can take a risk presented by the agriculture sector. That is why we have remodelled the AFC (Agriculture Finance Corporation) to serve the requirements of farmers.
The AFC has come up with different packages to help farmers including insurance and leasing machinery to farmers.
Minister Masuka said they also view Cottco as a transformative agent.
“We should see a lot of value addition in the rural areas,” he said.
On Zinwa, Minister Masuka said its mandate was to ensure construction of dams and drilling of 35 000 boreholes in 35 000 villages. Zimbabwe Farmers Union director Mr Paul Zakariya applauded Government for engaging farmers in all processes that involve them. “We appreciate the consultative nature of the Ministry. For the first time in many years, farmer organisations have been recognised and their voices heard on many platforms. Farmers regularly meet with the Minister.
“We appreciate the different inputs schemes. To sustain the current growth trajectory, our markets must reform. Attention must be paid to the primary producers to ensure the farmer looks forward to going back to the field.
“We should also promote value addition on farms,” he said.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Dr Shadreck Makombe said: “We are interested in a win-win situation by all stakeholders in the agriculture sector. We should be walking the talk.”
Dr Makombe also called for subsidies and mechanisation programmes to empower farmers.
Online Reporter