Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]
FARMERS that have benefited from rehabilitated schemes have been urged to contribute to national development through production as their input is critical to the attainment of an upper middle-income society in line with Vision 2030.
Addressing farmers recently during a visit to irrigation schemes in Matabeleland South Director Irrigation Development in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Engineer Bezzel Chitsungo said Government has not just rehabilitated the schemes but also rolled out various strategies to capacitate the farmers.
“Government has remembered you as farmers and engaged various partners to assist in development irrigation infrastructure. When we look at irrigation farmers, we see you as priviledged farmers because not every farmer with access to land has access to irrigation. With irrigations it means you can produce throughout the year.
“A lot of funds have been put into developing these irrigation schemes and as farmers that have benefited, we expect you to contribute to national development through production. In the past we would develop the scheme and leave you with little supervision from extension officers but now we realised that as farmers you were having challenges in maintaining the schemes,” he said.
Dr Chitsungo said Government has gone a step ahead by introducing the V30 accelerator model which will play a crucial role in attainment of Vision 2030.
He said Agricultural Rural Development Authority (ARDA) managers have been further deployed to help farmers run their schemes as businesses while Agritex extension officers will continue providing technical support.
Dr Chitsungo said intervention from Government has also seen farmers being capacitated through access to loans, equipment and farming inputs.
@DubeMatutu
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