adminThe District Development Fund (DDF), which is expected to provide tillage to farmers countrywide, is unable to do so because it has obsolete equipment.
DDF director general Mr James Jonga is on record as saying the parastatal was ill-prepared for this year’s farming season as its fleet of tractors was depleted.
Mr Jonga said most of the equipment did not have spare parts while some needed to be repaired.
He accused the Ministry of Finance of failing to finance DDF operations, which are critical to the agriculture sector, the backbone of the economy.
According to the Zanu-PF Central Committee report presented during the party’s conference last week, the Ministry of Agriculture has organised well equipped teams to undertake the repair and maintenance work in all parts of the country.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, through the Department of Mechanisation, is going to provide on-farm machinery maintenance and repair through 16 fully equipped mobile workshops that will operate throughout the country,” reads the report.
To mitigate the effects of climate change, the Department of Mechanisation urged farmers to use conservation agriculture technologies through farmer training and research on appropriate conservation agriculture.
The department also encouraged farmers to use modern grain storage structures that include the use of steel silos to minimise post-harvest losses and ensure food security at household level.
The call for improved food production comes at a time when the Government and President Mugabe have launched some farm input support schemes.
These include the $45 million subsidised input scheme, the $30 million facility for grain swaps meant for farmers who delivered grain to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) and the Presidential Well-wishers Input Support Scheme.
The report reveals that there are 84 515 metric tonnes of seed maize from seed houses as well as carry-over stocks from the GMB, which are more than adequate to meet the national requirements of 50 000 metric tonnes of seed maize to cover two million hectares.
“It is a known fact that supporting communal and small-scale farmers guarantees food security as these are the groups that have always been producing the bulk of the maize in the country,” reads the report.
During the conference in Bulawayo last week, Zanu-PF delegates expressed concern over inadequate financing of agricultural activities.
President Mugabe also said the other parties in the inclusive Government were reluctant to finance agriculture because they did not like it.
The delegates accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti of deliberately refusing to finance Zanu-PF-led ministries. They demanded that something must be done to stop him from doing so in order to enhance meaningful development.
Online Reporter