Chronicle Editor
Sikhulekelani Moyo, [email protected]
GOVERNMENT has set up localised committees to supervise the accelerated distribution of farm inputs under the Presidential Input Scheme, and expects the exercise to be concluded by the end of this month to ensure smooth and successful cropping.
As part of efforts to boost food security and nutrition across the country, the Government, working closely with private sector players, has taken the lead to capacitate farmers in both urban and rural communities to work hard and ensure good yields.
Under the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa, the country has implemented a raft of policy, strategic, and legislative interventions to promote the transformation of the agriculture sector, which is the mainstay of the country’s economy.
The interventions have enabled the country to achieve food security in the last four seasons, with greater strides being recorded across the value chain in line with the Rural Transformation Strategy, which promotes growth in rural agriculture for improved rural livelihoods and jobs.
In an interview on the sidelines of the five-day strategic planning workshop that started yesterday in Bulawayo, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development, Dr Anxious Masuka, said agriculture should not just generate food alone but jobs and be a means of upliftment of livelihood towards Vision 2030.
“To date we have about 35 000 metric tons that have been moved from suppliers in terms of fertilisers, just over 5 000 seeds moved into Grain Marketing Board depots and very shortly we will accelerate the distribution,” he said.
“We have put distribution committees in the local areas, so we think that by 31 October most households would have done their minimum of three (Pfumvudza/Intwasa) plots, which enable them to qualify to access these inputs,” said the minister.
He said the country was targeting about three million beneficiaries for rural areas and that each one of these must do a minimum of three plots to come up with a minimum of nine million plots.
Citing the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment report, Dr Masuka said the urban food insecurity is increasing, hence the Government has moved in to avail inputs for urban households under the ‘Transient Urban Cultivation’, which will increase the beneficiaries to about 3,5 million.
“As of today, the farmers have done 1,7 million plots, so therefore the gap is large, which is why we have this strategic retreat to say how do we close this gap by 31 October. So, by the end of this week, we will have all the answers,” he said.
Dr Masuka emphasised the need to embrace the Pfumvudza/Intwasa conservation farming model saying that has proved to be the only way to reap big as climate change continues to affect agriculture production.
The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has predicted that the country will receive normal to below-normal rainfall this season with the bulk of Matabeleland and Midlands provinces being the most affected.
With the preparations for the 2023/24 summer cropping season gathering momentum, Dr Masuka, said conservation farming such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa and irrigation was the answer to producing enough food at the household level.
He explained that climate-proofed agriculture was at two levels, which include Pfumvudza/Intwasa at household level and irrigation at the national level where he said 80 000 hectares for irrigation have been identified.
Earlier in his speech, Dr Masuka said the sector’s mandate was to increase crop, livestock, and fisheries production and productivity for national food and nutrition security, and for food sovereignty, which will result in improved livelihoods for accelerated rural development.
As part of a modern, technology-driven, diverse, resilient, inclusive, and climate-smart agriculture sector drive, Zimbabwe is focused on broadening and diversifying agricultural markets and trade to enhance value addition and beneficiation of agricultural produce through aggregation and agro-industrialisation. — @SikhulekelaniM1
Online Reporter