Online Reporter
Sikhulekelani Moyo
Zimpapers Business Hub
LANDS, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Dr Anxious Masuka has urged farmers to start planting for the 2025/2026 cropping season, stressing that the season has started in earnest.
Minister Masuka said the outlook was projected to be better this season compared to the previous one, with good rains currently being received across the country.
He said this in an interview on the sidelines of the ministry’s strategic planning and review workshop, which started in Bulawayo yesterday.
The five-day workshop is meant to reflect on the achievements and challenges faced by the ministry over the past five years and map out strategies for the next five years, in line with the upcoming National Development Strategy 2 (NDS 2) economic blueprint.
“I urge all farmers to plant as quickly as possible. The Presidential Inputs are being moved, and we expect that by the close of this week, at least 50 percent of all the basal fertiliser and the seed required will be out in the communities. And again, distribution will be by the ward committees,” the minister said
He urged farmers to adhere to the tenets of the Pfumvudza/Intwasa system, a sustainable intensive conservation agriculture model.
Dr Masuka said the programme had gone beyond a proof-of-concept to a science and fact-based way of farming.
“This must be complemented by agroecological tailoring. What is grown by the farmer must be determined by the exigencies of that particular agro-ecological region,” added Dr Masuka.
“So, we will be distributing seed according to agro-ecological zones, with traditional grains going to regions three, four, and five, and we will prioritise maize for regions one, two, and three.
“We plan to produce 3,2 million tonnes of cereals, up from 2,9 million metric tonnes of cereals from the same hectare range of 2,6 million hectares.”
Zimbabwe is poised for another productive summer cropping season after the Meteorological Services Department confirmed a strong likelihood of La Niña conditions, which would bring good rains 2025-2026 farming season.
This will be the second consecutive year of favourable farming conditions following the devastating drought caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon that characterised the 2023/24 season.
Meanwhile, Dr Masuka said through the Agricultural Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 1 (AFSRTS1), the ministry managed to achieve what was set in the blueprint.
President Mnangagwa launched the strategy in August 2020, when agriculture was a US$5,2 billion industry.
“And by the end of this year, we think that it will be a US$10,3 billion industry. So, we are above the US$8,2 billion that we say we’re going to be,” he added.
“Now we project with the Agricultural Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSRTS 2), that we will be a US$15,8 billion industry by 2030.
“So, what does that mean to the ordinary villager? Is it just these numbers? Where is the equity as we do all this?
“And I hope that in our planning, we’ll be able to really go to the next level. So, this meeting this year is more than the annual review in the planning meeting, because it also sets the stage for the AFSRTS 2, 2026 to 2030, where we have clearly articulated the five mandates of the ministry.”
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary, Professor Obert Jiri, said AFSRTS 2 focused of five elements, which include food security, food nutrition, resilience building through irrigation development and dam construction, livelihoods improvements, and affirmation and reaffirmation of the borders to ensure what boundaries the country has as a nation develop security of the properties.
He said the strategy was based on 10 pillars that focus on issues related to food security, irrigation development, development of crops and livestock, market development, and economic analysis of the various value chains that the ministry follows.
“As the ministry, we focus on 40 value chains, 12 of then are in the livestock sector and the rest are crop value chains,” said Prof Jiri.
“It is this value chain approach that we emphasize so that we can get the full value of our agriculture as we navigate from being a US$10,2 billion industry that we attained by 2025 to becoming a US$15,8 billion industry by 2030.
He said this strategy would also enhance the focus on rural development and rural industrialisation, noting that the development of the country must be buttressed by the rural economy.
