Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
Government has warned plot holders at irrigation schemes against holding on to pieces of land without fully utilising them.
In an interview, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary Dr John Basera said Government has adopted the use it or lose it policy so that all irrigation schemes produce food for the country each and every season.
“There are 450 irrigation schemes on 26 000 hectares in the country and the gospel we are preaching is use it or lose it. We don’t want a situation whereby households just hold on to the plots at irrigation schemes for speculation, no, that’s unacceptable,” he said.
“So that is the message we were putting across especially to the irrigation management committees at irrigation schemes to say anyone holding a plot in any irrigation scheme for speculation purposes surely should be chucked out of that irrigation scheme.”
He said if all irrigation schemes are fully utilised, the country will be food secure.
“Utilisation of all irrigation schemes will mean that we are guaranteed sustained food production. The owners of the plots should have the sense of ownership because if they own it, they will obviously take good care of it. But at the same time, they will utilise it for their own benefit especially at household level,” said Dr Basera.
He said the goal is to have green irrigation schemes all year round with different crops to make the country self-sustainable in the face of climate change.
“We need plot holders who create value from the land they have because Vision 2030 is all about creating value and it’s all about incomes from the household levels.
“That is the reason why President Mnangagwa pronounced that we need to attain an upper middle-income economy by 2030 and it’s all about value creation and incomes especially starting at the household level and then go to zonal, district, provincial and national levels. That’s how we can grow our economy,” said Dr Basera.
He said Government has cleared arrears with wheat and maize farmers who delivered their produce to the Grain Marketing Board.
“At the moment we don’t owe any farmer for deliveries to the Grain Marketing Board. In fact, we have forked about $60 billion in terms of wheat and maize payments. On the cotton side, we owe farmers about $1 billion and we are making weekly payments in tranches of $500 million per week and so we should be able to clear that debt to farmers by mid-March,” said Dr Basera.
Online Reporter