admin
Business Reporter
ZIMBABWE has started receiving farming equipment under a Brazilian $98 million loan facility set to boost irrigation farming ahead of the 2014/15 season while India and Russia have pledged more support for the livestock sector, a cabinet minister has said. Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made on Sunday said the support from the three countries would revamp irrigation farming countrywide and livestock production especially in Matabeleland region.
“The equipment that is coming from Brazil, I am happy to say that both provinces Mat North and South will at least have a project each that will be relating to this equipment.
“This equipment has already started arriving in Harare, so I speak with confidence on it,” he said.
Dr Made, who was addressing delegates during the Zanu-PF Zim-Asset conference for Matabeleland region, could not immediately reveal how farmers would access the equipment but was quick to point out the beneficiaries “won’t receive the equipment for free”, saying there was a need for them to “pay for the facilities that will be given”.
He said the Indians have committed themselves to bankroll the establishment of a 10,000-hectare irrigation project in Binga in Matabeleland North while two other projects in Dande Valley in Mashonaland Central and Osborne Dam in Manicaland will be financed under the $500 million Chinese loan facility.
“Emphasis is that the initial stages of these projects are going to address irrigation schemes relating to the smallholder. That will enable us to unlock commercial farming,” said Dr Made.
With a month before commencement of the 2014/15 cropping season, the minister could not state what the government was doing concerning provision on inputs saying his ministry would soon come up with a position following guidelines with the Ministry of Finance.
The government has said it is not going to provide free inputs anymore but will subsidise seed houses to make the inputs accessible at affordable prices.
Dr Made said the livestock sector required a major boost to meet the targets espoused in the country’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset under the food and nutrition cluster.
“Zimbabwe is a livestock country and this is at the heart of this region. The potential we hold is that we can increase our livestock activity five times more than what we’re doing,” said Dr Made.
“In the southern parts of the country, that is Matabeleland North and South, we’re going to bring machinery that is related to livestock. This is going to deal, in the main, with beef and dairy because these two sub-sectors are critical in areas surrounding Bulawayo.”
Revamping the livestock sector is set to boost the viability of the Cold Storage Company, which is a strategic engine in the resuscitation of Bulawayo industries and other downstream production chains related to the sector.
Vice President Joice Mujuru recently announced the country was ready to receive the first tranche of the $98 million from Brazil this month.
She said the funding, agreed between the two countries last year to fund acquisition of agricultural equipment, would be availed for the 2014/15 cropping season and that modalities for its accessibility to farmers were being finalised.
Earlier reports had indicated that farmers would apply for the funds at concessionary rates through Agribank specifically for acquiring agricultural equipment such as tractors as well as rehabilitation of irrigation schemes.
Online Reporter