adminHIGH water and electricity charges came under the spotlight at a one-day food conference as stakeholders appealed to the government to address the tariffs to improve viability for producers and processors. The Zimbabwe Food Conference and Expo 2015, which ran under the theme “Enhancing food security” in Harare last week tackled various issues affecting production that need to be looked at to boost food security at household and national levels.
The issue of expensive water and electricity charges emerged as foundational issues that need to be tackled to address the cost of food in the country as well as viability of farming enterprises.
Zimbabwe Food Conference and Expo 2015 chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said it was critical that the government set different charges for water and electricity for those involved in food production.
“Water and electricity charges levied on farmers and food companies need review,” Musarara said.
“A nightclub and food processing companies can’t pay same tariffs for water and electricity. Food companies provide life…”
A representative of the Commercial Farmers Union and a farmer from Mhangura also registered their displeasure on the high utility charges, adding that it did not make sense for those involved in food production to be forced to use prepaid electricity meters.
Power utility, Zesa Holdings has introduced prepaid meters as a means to encourage users to pay up for power after it struggled to collect dues from farmers who were previously using post-paid meters.
In response, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made said the issue of water and energy costs was a delicate issue, which most countries were also battling with.
“Some countries are already battling shortages of fresh water which are impacting on agriculture production,” he said, while urging the conference to come up with win-win proposals to address the matter.
Besides water and electricity charges,farmers involved in livestock production also bitterly complained about a string of levies that they had to pay to a number of government related institutions such as Rural District Councils, which were not in any way contributing to their farming business. — New Ziana
Online Reporter