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Agriculture Reporter
THE Government’s push for farmers to commercialise their agricultural activities on the backdrop of hard work and serious commitment will contribute to the attainment of an upper-middle-income economy in line with the country’s Vision 2030.
Mashonaland East Provincial Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services acting director Mr Learnard Munamati said this during a recent livestock field day held at Brechin Farm in Seke.
The field day was hosted by Mr Gilbert Mukatyei on his 21ha plot, which is a sub-division of Brechin Farm that was segmented during the land reform programme to accommodate several farmers.
Mr Mukatyei has a herd of 450 pigs, 2 000 layers, 500 roadrunners, a large herd of goats and ducks.
“Agriculture has more potential to reduce poverty compared to any other sector. The successful development of the agriculture sector will obviously give birth to rural industrialisation, which will also spawn rural development. This will facilitate the attainment of an upper middle income economy and the eventual achievement of Vision 2030.
“The Government through the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has come up with Rural Development 8, 0. This is going to be a game changer in the agricultural sector of this country. The Government has been working on ensuring that people in rural communities are incorporated in the agenda to build the economy,” observed Mr Munamati.
He explained that it was the duty of the Ministry to warrant the transformation of farming systems of A1 farmers to commercial farming and of A2 farmers to successful entrepreneurs.
“It is agriculture, which must anchor the transformation of our country towards Vision 2030 because 61 percent of the population as per 2022 census findings are in rural areas,” he said.
The Rural Development 8.0 policy has eight components, which are climate proofed Presidential Input Programme (Pfumvudza/Intwasa), Presidential input programme for cotton, Presidential Horticulture Growth scheme (nutrition gardens, fruit trees, sweet potatoes), Presidential borehole drilling scheme, Presidential communities fisheries programme and Presidential Tick Grease Programme, which seeks to ensure that cattle owning households are able to prevent the recurrence of January disease, Presidential Rural Poultry Programme and the Presidential Goat Pass on scheme.
To further improve agricultural activities in Mashonaland East, the Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Ministry has a target to develop and rehabilitate irrigation across the province, Mr Munamati added.
“We also have a target to improve mechanisation in the province. We have a target to increase milk and meat production in the province. We have a target to increase egg production. Consumption of eggs is still very low, thereby affecting our nutrition.
“We have a target to increase our horticulture production and exports. We have a target to be food secure and be able to export food to other provinces. As a province and as a country, no challenge can stand in our way as long as we apply our minds collectively,” he said.
Mr Munamati commended Mr Mukatyei for working hard and putting his piece of land to good saying the work people were seeing on the plot was not a result of mere luck but was empirical evidence of a serious hard-working farmer who had the success of agrarian land reform in mind.
“I would like to encourage everyone here to emulate and use the Government’s business approach when doing agriculture. Government, private sector, parastatals, development partners and everyone here, let us work as a closely knit family towards the development of this country,” Mr Munamati added.
Mr Mukatyei thanked the Government for the land and encouraged other beneficiaries of the land reform programme to use land productively and contribute to the development of the nation and ensure that Zimbabwe is food secure.
“Farming is a business that farmers should take seriously. To be productive is not all about the size of the land but how you utilise that piece of land. I urge Government to give more land to productive farmers.”
Online Reporter