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Msilisi Dube
FARMERS who received inputs under the Presidential Well-wishers Input Scheme for the 2013-2014 agricultural season are optimistic of a bumper harvest.Their optimism is premised on the fact that this year, through his personal efforts, President Mugabe provided farmers with the inputs earlier than before and that the quantities of support are higher.
Apart from the Presidential initiative, farmers are also benefitting from one launched by the Government, while a number of financial institutions are involved in the same endeavour as well.
Farmers in Nkayi District’s Bona area are enthusiastic about the presidential input scheme. They expressed optimism with this year’s Government support to agriculture as well, saying it can help them realise a bumper harvest.
Ward 12 Nkayi Councillor, Miss Violet Baloyi applauded the President’s effort in trying to develop agriculture in her ward.
“As a community we are very happy. Every individual benefitted from this year’s presidential input scheme. I also thank the Government for giving communal farmers farming inputs. This is a good gesture which will help people not to depend on the Government for food aid.
Since every farmer is given seed and fertiliser they should work very hard so as to attain good harvest,” said Ms Baloyi.
During the tenure of the inclusive government, agriculture was starved of funding. This stunted its growth and left millions of people at the mercy of hunger and poverty.
The consequences were devastating and wider for an economy that is supposed to be anchored on a thriving farming sector.
Partly because of the refusal by the previous Finance Minister Tendai Biti to finance the agricultural sector and poor rainfall the agriculture sector has not been performing to expectations.
Zimbabwe achieved a low maize harvest of 798 600 metric tonnes in the 2012-2013 season against a total yearly human and livestock demand of about 2,4 million metric tonnes.
However, the agriculture sector’s days of gloom which were caused by the dysfunctional inclusive government will soon be a thing of the past as farmers are poised for good fortunes thanks to the support they got from President Mugabe and the Government. This also guarantees a bright future for the farming community and the economy of the nation at large, provided, of course, enough rains fall.
In its election-winning manifesto, Zanu- PF pledged to turn around agriculture by mobilising at least $8 billion for the resuscitation of the sector over the next five years.
As promised, the revolutionary party seems to have started rolling the wheels towards the attainment of this goal. Government has also managed to mobilise funds for farming loans to procure inputs this season.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union’s Mr Winston Babbage expressed hopes that the beneficiaries of the Presidential Well-wishers Input Scheme would use the assistance properly. He urged farmers to utilise the inputs wisely and not sell them.
“I hope that since many farmers have started tilling their ground they will get something and they will not suffer from hunger,” he said
“We have read reports of farmers in some communities who sell these inputs in order to buy food. Farmers should rise up and work hard in order to prove that they deserve the inputs they have been allocated by Government.”
Agriculture plays a crucial role in the domestic economy. It does not only provide food for the masses and raw materials for the manufacturing sector, but also employment opportunities to a very large proportion of the population.
Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made said the 2013-2014 assistance given to farmers was to boost production on farms, but warned farmers not to develop the dependency syndrome.
He said in the near future, focus will be put on subsidising manufacturers and providers of farming inputs.
“We have a good season ahead of us, but for a long time we have been saying subsidising the manufacturers is the preferred form of assistance because it assists us not to be involved in the day-to-day allocation of inputs to farmers.
“If we subsidise the manufacturers of inputs to lower the cost of production, the farmers will be able to purchase the inputs on their own. Also, if the farmers are paid on time, they will at least be able to purchase their own inputs. That is how farming should be,” said Minister Made.
Online Reporter