Chronicle Editor
VISITING Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Director General Qu Dongyu has hailed the transformation of Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector which has impacted positively on the people’s livelihoods.
Mr Qu who attended a FAO Regional Water Conference which ended in Harare yesterday, said the country has achieved a lot in its initiatives to transform the agriculture sector as it strives to regain its status as the region’s food basket.
He said the country has, as a result of the measures it has taken to boost agricultural production, managed to have a bumper harvest of its staple food like maize and other grains.
Mr Qu said agriculture in Zimbabwe has the potential to transform rural areas into industrialised zones and earn farmers increased revenue.
“Agriculture can be used to empower youths and women to end poverty,” he said.
Government, through the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority, (Arda) is already working on decentralised industrialisation programme that involves the establishment of rural industries that mainly process farmers’ produce.
This is expected to create thousands of jobs as a result of value addition and beneficiation which will directly benefit farmers as they will earn more from their produce.
The agricultural sector has already hit the initial 2025 target of US$8,2 billion a year as a result of huge financial investments made by the Government.
It is therefore, very encouraging when big international organisations such as FAO recognise such Government efforts to boost food production and enhance food security.
More than 300 000 families were allocated land under the country’s land reform programme, some in prime farming areas that used to be a preserve of white commercial farmers.
Many of these families have been very productive hence the bumper harvests being recorded across the country.
Livestock farmers have also been doing very well to grow the national herd.
The farmers have demonstrated that Zimbabwe has the potential to reclaim its status as the food basket of southern Africa. They have also shamed doomsayers who have been criticising the country’s land reform programme.
Government on its part has been supporting farmers through farm mechanisation, modernisation and provision of reliable energy supplies to ensure maximum production.
The farmers should therefore build on the momentum and Arda must complement them by accelerating the establishment of industries to process their produce.
We want more factories like the US$1 million Mutoko fruit and vegetable processing plant.
We have said before that individuals who got land for speculative purposes have no business to be on the land because this is a finite resource which should be left to only those that are committed to fully utilise it.
Online Reporter