Farmers challenged

hadcrept into the industry saying it was killing agricultural productivity.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Donald Khumalo said farming is a business. He said farmers should prepare on their own and turn to Government for assistance only when it is inevitable.
“We do not want to promote this culture of handouts. Farmers should learn to plan their activities and also draw up budgets on how to use their resources every time they generate some income.
“What we need at the moment are programmes that allow farmers to be weaned after one season and become self reliant,” said Mr Khumalo.
Government, he said, should avail resources to the Grain Marketing Board to allow the parastatal to pay farmers for their produce. He, however, lamented the absence of a clear agricultural policy outlining how Government and other input programmes should be rolled out for deserving farmers to benefit. Mr Khumalo challenged all stakeholders — bankers, government departments and farmers to work closely when rolling out programmes.
Mashonaland Central provincial agricultural extension officer Mr Stancilae Tapererwa said most farmers in his province had not yet started serious preparations for the 2012/13 season. He said the farmers could be waiting for Government programmes. Mr Tapererwa, however, said contracted farmers had started their activities after getting assistance from their contractors. Another Agritex official challenged banks to relax their requirements when farmers approach them for funding.