Chronicle Editor
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT is set to review the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy’s US$8,2 billion plan after the nation achieved its five-year agricultural economy target in just under 18 months.
As a result of the incredible achievement, Government has since assured citizens that the nation is food secure.
It dispelled reports that it was importing maize from Zambia clarifying that it was the private sector that was importing following a policy pronouncement in 2020 that roped in the participation of the private sector in the food production sub-sector through the Food Crops Contractors Association arrangement (FCCA).
The arrangement compels the private sector to produce at least 40 percent of its annual respective requirements locally by supporting the local farmer and if they fail they then import to cover the deficit.
President Mnangagwa launched the seemingly ambitious Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, a composite plan of action drawn from the Agriculture Recovery and Livestock Growth Plans in August 2020.
The plans outline specific key projects that include the provision of inputs to both vulnerable and smallholder farmers, fostering market links and climate-proofing all agriculture programmes under the Presidential Input Scheme.
The approach is anchored on four pillars: enabling agriculture policy and the regulatory environment to facilitate the flow of investment into the sector; appropriate agriculture investments for productivity, food security and resilience; efficient agricultural knowledge, technology and innovation system and the agriculture sector co-ordination for responsive planning, implementation monitoring and evaluation.
The agriculture strategy fulfils Zimbabwe’s domestication of global goals to meet the right to food and nutrition in the country. This economic projection encourages the nation to be more productive and work with greater synergies and collaboration.
In November last year, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka told business leaders in Victoria Falls City that the country was now a US$8,2 billion agricultural economy which was hoped to be achieved in 2025 only for the target to be achieved a year later. The sector plans to grow by a further 10 percent this year.
In a brief interview with Chronicle yesterday, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development, Dr John Basera said reviewing the strategy was now inevitable and they will have to undertake massive consultations with various stakeholders just like they did with the pilot US$8,2 billion agricultural economy project.
“Certainly, there is room for that (strategy review). We will undertake massive consultations with stakeholders countrywide just like we did when we came up with the envisaged US$8,2 billion agricultural economy by 2025, a mission that we have already achieved,” said Dr Basera.
Speaking during the Face the Nation programme on ZBC on Tuesday evening on the Agricultural sector’s contribution towards the attainment of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), Dr Basera said the sector was well on course to contribute 20 percent of the national GDP by 2025 as set out in the NDS1 targets for the sector. The sector is contributing between 12-15 percent to the GDP.
“This is a sector which contributes to employment creation directly and indirectly where we are looking at about 67 percent indirectly and 33 percent directly in terms of employment creation. It’s a sector which feeds into all the other industries as well, it contributes 65 percent to the manufacturing industry for the total raw material supply.
“We can’t really talk of 4.0 industrialisation without talking about agriculture transformation. It’s a sector that is a Vision 2030 accelerator, especially under the thrust of rural development which is very critical,” said Dr Basera.
He said the Agricultural sector’s contribution to NDS1 is premised on the Agriculture Food Systems Transformation Strategy, the Agriculture recovery and growth plan that seeks to reverse the negative trends in food production which has got a tone towards self-sufficiency, import substitution for food, food sovereignty and food security.
The Livestock Recovery Plan puts livestock economy at the forefront of achieving objectives of Vision 2030 through the US$1,9 billion agricultural livestock economy by year 2025 and the sub-sector is at around US$1,2 billion. All this is over a growing national herd that grew from 5,4 million to 5,6 million following a drop in the national mortality rate from 11 to nine percent.
“This is why we are saying the country is food secure. Some people may ask why then reports of imports from Zambia, let me categorically clear this, rewind to 2020. We made a big policy pronouncement to the effect of crowding in participation of the private sector in the food production sub-sector.
We created what we called the Food Crops Contractors Association (FCCA) and we charged them with a responsibility and compelled them to produce at least 40 percent of their annual respective requirements.
“For example, a miller is supposed to produce at least 40 percent of their annual requirements locally and by supporting the local farmer but if you fail to do that then you have to source your own raw materials for your industry, processing plant et cetera.
So we allowed the private sector to import from Zambia, Malawi and so forth, not to say that we are food insecure, we are actually food secure on the account of the mathematics which I shared earlier,” said Dr Basera. -@skhumoyo2000
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