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Conrad Mwanawashe Business Reporter —
Zimbabwe’s private sector has come up with a number of initiatives, including financing mechanisms, to support Government’s efforts to ensure food sufficiency in the country.
Some of the initiatives include contract farming together with sourcing for financing for various sub-sectors of the food value chain.
In an effort to ensure food security, Government introduced such initiatives as Command Agriculture which is targeting maize production capacity of two million tonnes this season.
Achieving food sufficiency is expected to reduce Government’s import bill and more importantly, free up resources from Treasury for infrastructure development.
For instance, last year as a result of the El Nino-induced drought, Government was forced to import 700 000 metric tonnes of maize alone in addition to wheat and soya beans.
This costs Government funds that could be used for other social services or infrastructure development had the country had enough food stocks.
“When we achieve food sufficiency in the country then a major burden would have shifted from the shoulders of Government because when we have droughts, we have to feed the country.
“Therefore, it forces Government to divert funds from infrastructure development, road construction and ICT sector products in the process, delaying the production or generation of power in the country because we believe it is a priority to feed the people,” Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa said yesterday.
Acting President Mnangagwa, chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Food and Nutrition Security, was speaking in Bulawayo after a tour of factories of grain millers in the city where he assessed capacity for the sector to absorb grain produced under Command Agriculture, among other initiatives.
He was accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development who is also acting Minister for Industry and Commerce Dr Joseph Made,
The tour, organised by the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe, saw the Acting President visit indigenous owned UniMills in Belmont, National Foods and recently resuscitated Blue Ribbon Foods.
Acting President Mnangagwa said financing of initiatives such as Command Agriculture should come from the private sector to allow Government to focus on internal development. He acknowledged that the private sector had come on board.
“But now if we are able to have Command Agriculture finance, not by Government, but by domestic institutions internally we are freeing lots of funds to do internal development in the country. This is why we are attending to food security as a priority area. We are financing domestically.
“In our discussions with stakeholders, they are happy to source their own funding to go into agro-business for value addition. It’s not Government financing, but Government is facilitating,” said Acting President Mnangagwa.
At UniMills, owned by a young indigenous entrepreneur Davis Muhambi, Acting President Mnangagwa was told how the company has grown over the years primarily riding on Government policies such as Statutory Instrument 64 which restricts imports of products which can be produced locally.
The company processes about 440 tonnes of maize per day.
“I am impressed by our young man, Muhambi, just knowing that you are now employing 260 workers.
“If we had 100 young people like you across the country that would translate to a huge number of people employed,” he said.
GMAZ vice chairman Chipo Nheta said millers are committed to working with Government to ensure food security.
Online Reporter