adminmodel support scheme that has potential to bring Zimbabwe back to its breadbasket status.
Zimbabwe Defence Forces Major General Engelbert Rugeje, last week hailed the launch of President Muga-be’s scheme, adding no country in the world could produce enough food for its citizens without support from the Government.
Maj Gen Rugeje, who was addressing senior army officers on Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme at 4 brigade headquarters on Monday, said the Presidential Input Support Scheme performed wonders against a backdrop of adverse weather conditions that destroyed crops in some areas.
“I want to make it clear that no country the world over can produce enough food for its people if Government does not subsidise agriculture.
“Farmers have to be supported and in that line, I want to applaud the decision taken by President Mugabe to launch the Presidential Input Support Scheme that saw tens of thousands of mainly communal farmers receiving seed and fertiliser for free.
“That was a step in the right direction and Zimbabwe could have retained its breadbasket status in the just ended farming season had it not been for bad weather,” said Maj Gen Rugeje.
He stressed the importance of governments subsidising their farmers, adding it was unfortunate that some countries in the West were against the idea of small countries such as Zimbabwe subsiding their farmers.
The United States is one of the countries in the world that has massive support for its farmers.
“There cannot be any meaningful agricultural production if governments do not subsidise their farmers. Farmers will always require the support from Government if they are to be able to produce enough food.
“It is also a sign of clear hypocrisy that there are some Western nations who were opposed to governments in countries such as ours subsiding their farmers yet they subsidise their own farmers,” he said.
Maj Gen Rugeje said Zimbabwe had the potential to excel in agriculture considering that newly resettled farmers who benefited from the land reform programme where performing far much better despite lack of support from banks and the continued suffocation from illegal economic sanctions that were imposed by the West.
He said beneficiaries of Zimbabwe’s land reform programme were close to achieving massive benefits in five years, white colonists backed by white banking capital managed to do in a space of close to a century.
Maj Gen Rugeje’s comments were corroborated by Zimbabwe National Army (administration and quarter master) Major General Trust Mugoba, who said Zimbabwe this year had produced over 1,6 million tonnes despite an array of challenges ranging from poor weather patterns and shortage of inputs.
Maj Gen Mugoba said Zimbabwe could even do better in agriculture if farmers were given more support in terms of inputs and loans from financial institutions.
Online Reporter