Agriculture sector needs $500m

Business Reporter
THE agriculture sector requires at least $500 million to stimulate productivity and guarantee food security in the country, the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union (ZCFU) immediate past president, Donald Khumalo, said yesterday. He said Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa should consider allocating significant funding towards the agriculture sector in the 2014 national budget.

The upcoming fiscal policy statement will be presented on December 19.
“As farmers, we would want to see the 2014 national budget being pro-agriculture. The agriculture sector requires few billions of dollars but if at least $500 million is availed to support agriculture in next year’s budget it will stimulate production in the sector.

“Anything short of that will be insignificant to stimulate production and guarantee food security in the country,” said Khumalo in an interview.

In the 2013 national budget, he said, Government allocated a “very insignificant” amount of funding towards the agriculture industry.
“In the 2013 national budget, the sector received a very insignificant funding, whose disbursement in full was never realised.”

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in the 2013 mid-term national budget revised downwards agriculture growth from 6,4 percent to 5,4 percent.

The downward revision in agriculture growth was on account of anticipated declines in maize, groundnuts and cotton output owing to the poor 2012/13 rainy season.

Due to underfunding, wheat and livestock sectors have also been negatively impacted.
In the 2013 Second Round Crop and Livestock Assessment Report, the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development indicated that 798 600 tonnes of maize will be realised in 2013, down from an initial projection of 1,1 million tonnes.
Zimbabwe needs two million tonnes of grain annually.

Presently, the Government imports grain from surplus regional countries like Zambia to augment the strategic grain reserves.
Stakeholders in the livestock sector have also started working on measures to resuscitate the industry amid concerns that the national herd has drastically gone down to less than five million compared to six million in 1999.