Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
IT’S all systems go for the start of the summer cropping season in the country following the distribution of farming inputs to farmers under the Presidential Intwasa/Pfumvudza Climate Proof Programme.
While the programme has officially been launched in provinces such as Matabeleland South and Mashonaland Central, the inputs have since been distributed to the remaining provinces and official launch programmes are pencilled for next week. Under the programme, small-scale farmers across all eight rural provinces have been given a target to produce 1,8 million tonnes of cereals and 360 000 tonnes of oil seeds in the forthcoming summer cropping season.
The development is expected to give a vast swathe of households not just food security, but also income from surpluses and cash crops to boost national standards of living.
Under Intwasa, each of the rural provinces has to average 225 000 tonnes of cereals and 45 000 tonnes of oil seed at one tonne of grain and 200kg of oil seed from the average small-scale farming household. This will not only produce almost 90 percent of the annual national food requirements, and ensure that A1 and A2 farmers, who fall under Command Agriculture, have built on a broad base pushing Zimbabwe into surpluses, but also ensure industry has required raw materials and larger markets.
In an interview yesterday, the deputy minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Vangelis Haritatos said Government was pushing to complete the programme by mid-October.
“What I can tell you is that we started distribution of inputs for this year’s Climate Smart Presidential Input Scheme very early. All provinces have already received inputs and we are now pushing that we complete the entire programme by mid-October so that our farmers can plant,” he said.
Dep Minister Haritatos said starting next week, the programme will cover the launches in six provinces to educate farmers on the importance of the Intwasa/Pfumvudza programme.
“This year as you know, only those farmers who have prepared their Intwasa /Pfumvudza plots will receive inputs. About 1,8 million households are targeted to produce 1,8m tonnes of cereals and 360 000 tonnes of oil seeds.
“We need all stakeholders to come together so that we support this programme. Our beneficiaries must embrace the programme and give it their all as we strive for food and nutrition self-sufficiency and security,” he said.
President Mnangagwa has said the Intwasa/ Pfumvudza farming concept will benefit everyone as the Government seeks to empower the majority of people.
This year, the Government introduced the Intwasa/ Pfumvudza concept, a conservation farming method aimed at improving production for 1,8 million households of small-scale farmers.
Said President Mnangagwa: “The Intwasa concept is more embracing because with Command Agriculture, we were dealing with people who had some degree of empowerment already, but with Pfumvudza, no one would be left behind. Those who have tractors and so on can go to the Command Agriculture under CBZ.”
Intwasa/Pfumvudza was adopted by the Government to address the problems of low production and productivity, which continued to negatively affect the food security situation in Zimbabwe. The second major gain was to inspire the commercialisation of smallholder farming in the country, giving all rural families an income.
The low productivity experienced over the past decade has led the country to be a perennial importer of grain to meet local consumption. This increased pressure on the fiscus to commit scarce foreign currency to grain importation which could have been channelled to other sectors of the economy.
Midlands Provincial Crop and Livestock o fficer, Mrs Medlinah Magwenzi said the inputs have been received with the province expecting an official launch of the programme next week.
She said all the eight districts from Mberengwa to Gokwe South had received the inputs.
Online Reporter