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Elton Manguwo
THE Government’s set target of 250 million kilogrammes of cotton this season, up from 55 million kilogrammes in the 2020/21 term, is expected to add impetus to the rural development 8.0 strategy that will among other things, industrialise the rural areas.
Cotton is a strategic cash crop that can facilitate rural industrialisation, as the value chain can accommodate many people through production, processing and marketing thereby generating employment.
Speaking during a strategic meeting in Gweru recently, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka said rural industrialisation was anchored on the fact that development stemming from the agriculture sector was twice more powerful at uplifting people from poverty than development emanating from any other sector.
The Presidential Input Scheme Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme is set to benefit 520 000 households through seed packages. The programme has since been fine tuned for crop production to be determined by the agro-ecological zones in which the farmers are situated.
Dr Masuka said the transformational vision of achieving a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society by 2030 is largely powered by development that leaves no one and no place behind adding that the Ministry’s eco-chamber strategy was anchored on development that leaves no household and village behind.
The rural development initiative is anchored on the dictates of the agriculture and food systems transformation strategy that seek to remodel the agriculture sector to be business driven as Government targets an US$8, 2 billion agriculture sector by 2025.
“As we plan for the 2022/23 season, I urge all Government departments and parastatals to embrace, support and collaborate in the implantation of rural development 8.0. I implore the Ministry’s staff to exert more effort and build greater synergies for improved service delivery,” said Dr Masuka.
Furthermore, the Government aims at transforming the 3, 5 million rural agrarians from subsistence to commercially oriented farmers while equally transforming A1 and old resettlement farmers from surplus oriented to commercial farmers. The strategy is supported by the Presidential out-come based schemes.
With the country’s 70 percent population dependent on agriculture, the development of agriculture represents the transformation of livelihoods of the country’s bigger population.
“No country has ever transitioned from low-income economy to a middle or upper-income economy without increasing agricultural productivity,” observed the Minister.
The Government is expecting a record three million tonnes of maize, another record 265 million kilogrammes of tobacco and an increase in traditional grains of up to 500 000 tonnes this season.
Online Reporter