‘Amplify investment in agric’

Samuel Kadungure Senior Farming Reporter
AGRICULTURE, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister, Dr Joseph Made, has implored Government and donor agencies to amplify investment in agriculture by focusing on initiatives that empower all farming communities and bolster critical support services like research and extension.

Dr Made was commenting on the Zimbabwe Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP) $72 million kitty availed by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) for Manicaland, Mashonaland Central and Midlands.

Manicaland was allocated $6 million, targeted at 74 500 poor smallholder farmers in Mutare, Makoni and Mutasa for three years.

“The reasons for low production are varied and hinge on both the capacity of the farmers and service providers and the effects of climate change. We are pleased to note that this programme will focus on the improving of the ability of (resource poor rural) households and communities to deal with shocks and stress that are worsened by the effects of climate change by scaling up the introduction of proven climate smart technologies,” said Dr Made.

Dr Made said food and nutrition was a priority cluster under Zim-Asset, which his ministry was mandated to stir, but their drive was being militated by climatic afflictions which saw the nation harvesting way below what it requires to feed its citizenry.

The delicate food crisis in Zimbabwe, which Dr Made attributed to climatic shocks and stress — was being manifested through high levels of malnutrition.

He said Zimbabwe would import about 700 000mt of maize since the bulky of its food crops wilted before reaching maturity in a mid-season drought that resulted in the country facing a tremendous challenge to meeting food requirements for its rapidly growing population.

The bulky of the crop suffered severe moisture stress and the quality of the remnant crop was inferior.

“Zimbabwe is aiming at producing adequate food for its population and enough raw materials to service the manufacturing sector. The Zimbabwean agricultural sector’s changed landscape requires a package of technologies for production in general, extension, mechanisation and value addition.

There is need to increase the level of investment in agriculture through deliberately targeting programmes to empower all those participating in agriculture and to critical support services such as research and extension,” said Dr Made.

“We are glad that this programme will promote rural finance to ensure that rural farmers have access to financial services and particularly to support productive activities.

“The success of the agriculture sector is anchored on the adequacy of financing arrangements. Regarding markets, the constraints facing smallholder farmers in accessing input and output markets are well known and documented.

“These include lack of capital, poor organizational skills, lack of negotiating capacity, and low productivity and ultimate production which result in lack of economies of scale for both farmers and buyers,” said Dr Made.

The initiative in Manicaland will be referred to as INSPIRE and will be implemented by Goal Zimbabwe (30 wards in Makoni), Sustainable Agriculture Trust (SAT) (27 wards in Mutare) and Practical Action (21 wards in Mutasa) and Technoserve.

The initiative marks a shift by developmental partners from humanitarian to a purely developmental programme that encompasses livelihoods and food security.

Instead of dealing with the effect of food insecurity, this initiative seeks to address the underlying causes of food insecurity for the rural poor in a long term and sustainable manner.

The programmes also seeks to ensure that rural farmers are better able to manage farm enterprises and in climate resilient way, increase demand, production and consumption of diverse nutritional foods and respond to commercial markets, traders and processors needs.

It also seeks to improve the ability of smallholder farmers to withstand, mitigate against, adapt to, and recover from the worst effects of drought and other climate shocks, thereby building the resilience of rural populations.