adminIn an interview yesterday, he said: “Planning is very crucial if the country is to boost production.
“For example the grain loan scheme was only availed yesterday when crops like maize were supposed to be in the ground by November. How do you expect output to be high when farmers are always lagging behind the farming season.”
He said production costs were very high and farmers were as a result failing to break even yet farming was supposed to be a business.
“Costs of producing maize and wheat are very high yet farmers are supposed to produce these crops to feed the nation,” said Mr Khumalo.
He said because of the high production costs, products produced from local crops were as a result expensive compared to imports.
Mr Khumalo said the present situation whereby the Grain Marketing Board was failing to pay farmers for grain deliveries impacted negatively on production.
“GMB has over the years been failing to pay farmers on time and this adversely affects preparations for planting,” he said.
Mr Khumalo said because of the failure by the GMB to pay farmers, they were failing to buy inputs such as seed and fertilizer and the end result was poor harvest.
Agriculture, Mr Khumalo said, was the backbone of the Zimbabwean economy since the economy was agro-based.
“About 60 percent of the manufacturing firms rely on agriculture for raw materials so if agriculture is not doing well, this impacts negatively on industry,” he said.
Mr Khumalo said due to subdued agriculture output, a number of companies that rely on the sector for raw materials were not operating at full throttle while others had been forced to close down.
Zimbabwe has relied on regional countries such as South Africa that have provided grain to cover its food deficit.
Mr Khumalo said the challenge was to plan adequately for each agricultural season, provide adequate resources on time and ensure farming remains a viable business by offering competitive prices for the different crops.
He said Zimbabwe had the potential to produce not just enough for its consumption but even surplus for export.
Online Reporter