It’s high time govt, GMB prioritise agriculture

Food prices ended the year low and prices are likely to be like that for the first quarter of the year. But after that the worst is expected.
It will be a sad story if we continue importing food from neighbouring countries that do not have as much fertile land as we do. They also don’t have the agricultural expertise that we have.
They are just simply better planners. If there is any weakness that the inclusive government has been notorious for is failing to quickly agree on what needs to be done and doing it. There is no reason why the GMB should be frantically trying to distribute fertilisers in mid-January when everyone knows that these inputs must be with the farmers by the beginning of November so that they know exactly what they need to plant.
It is easy to blame the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development for this delay, but to do so would be to unfairly apportion blame. Minister Joseph Made had his plans quite early on and almost every week he would meet journalists to brief them on what needed to be done, which was not being done.
It appears there is still little appreciation of the importance of agriculture in stimulating our economy in certain sections of government. It is either that or there is a fear that if agriculture works perfectly it would vindicate the decision by the Zanu- PF government to redistribute land.
We believe Finance Minister Tendai Biti met the farmers’ representatives during his budget consultation. We are sure Minister Made meets them regularly. So there ought to be a good appreciation of what needs to be done. Farmers need to be listened to if agriculture is to return to its high production days. Of course farmers mourn a lot and some of the things they say need to be taken with a pinch of salt. But experienced agricultural minds like Dr Made know what to take and what to dismiss. He needs to be listened to by his colleagues in government. About half of the Cabinet ministers and permanent secretaries are farmers. How we always end up with delays like we have now is a mystery.
We believe that despite the economic sanctions imposed by the West it is possible for us to keep our economy moving forward. We need to focus on the four pillars of the economy – agriculture, mining, tourism and the manufacturing sector.
The reason why capacity utilisation is still low in the manufacturing sector is because agriculture, which produces the raw materials, is limping. Of course there are serious liquidity challenges that have seen companies in cities like Bulawayo closing down. But if agriculture were to rise to its true potential it would bring up the whole economy, create jobs and enable us to bust the sanctions. Farmers have repeatedly displayed their farming abilities only to be let down by those who are supposed to create a conducive environment for their operations.
The rains have not been too kind to farmers in some parts of the country but this is something we must learn to live with and manage better. There are ways of going round this problem of erratic rainfall and these are well documented and crying out for implementation.
On paper the Minister of Finance has put impressive figures in terms of what he plans to invest in agriculture. But the problem is always in disbursing that money. If what has been budgeted for is released in time for the farmers to work the land we would be net exporters of most crops, including the staple crop for the region – maize.
Tourism and mining have done remarkably well under very difficult conditions. The vibrant leadership demonstrated in the tourism sector is beginning to pay dividends for us as a country. Mining still needs serious recapitalisation but it is making visible progress and its contribution to the GDP will continue to rise.
Whatever these other sectors contribute, Zimbabwe’s economy remains agro-based, hence the need to pay special attention to agriculture. It is therefore frustrating to see the same mistakes repeated year after year in such a critical sector of our economy.
Our farmers appear ready to perform. All they need is easy access to resources and inputs. It is not just the big commercial farmers that produce the food we eat, but the smallholder and communal farmers have always been major players. It is these farmers that need access to inputs from depots near them.
Whilst collective blame should go to the government for the delays in the distribution of inputs, the Ministry of Agriculture and its distributing arm, GMB, have questions to answer regarding the alleged corruption in the distribution of the inputs.
It appears the small farmers, who are the target of the inputs, are once again being crowded out by the big fish, which in most instances are politicians.
We don’t understand why these politicians are not ashamed to be even visiting those depots where the poor farmers are supposed to get their inputs from.
As the unions pointed out, now is the time to start focusing on winter cropping and hopefully things will be done better.