adminTafara Shumba
With the plentiful rains pounding our fertile land coupled with the conducive conditions put in place for our agricultural sector this year, Government must brook no reason for food deficit anymore. Instead, this season must herald the restoration of the country’s food self-sufficiency and prove wrong the prophets of doom.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee projected that more than 2,2 million people need food assistance until harvest time in March this year.
When Zimbabwe was the second largest economy in Southern Africa, its economy was founded on a robust agricultural and agro-industrial investment.
There is a big synergy between agriculture and the industries which use agricultural products as their raw materials and those that supply the agricultural sector with inputs and equipment.
Agriculture is central to the resuscitation of the industry and the revitalisation of the economy in general. Thus, the restoration of the country’s agricultural sector becomes pivotal. There has to be a paradigm shift from the obtaining culture where all eyes are pinned on minerals, diamonds in particular, as if they were the only movers of the economy.
Such undivided attention to one sector of the economy leaves other equally important sectors ailing. Zimbabwe still has the opportunity to restore its breadbasket status.
Meeting the challenge of the national and regional hunger must be at the heart of the country’s agricultural policies. Food security entails that all people have sufficient, safe and nutritious food all times.
To ensure food security in the country, government must put in place vibrant policies on agriculture and subsequently make some effective follow-ups on them.
Government should make it mandatory for every farmer to remit a certain percentage of grain to the Grain Marketing Board. Farmers should be grateful to the government for the brave step it took towards redressing the skewed land ownership pattern that was in existence for over a century.
The best way to show this gratitude is through remitting grain to the national strategic grain reserves. If farmers could realise that they got the farms free of charge, this task would not be difficult for them. The farmers would voluntarily help Government to feed the populace if they realised that they even got some mechanised equipment and to some extent, the inputs for free.
Most of the farmers are shunning growing food crops in favour of cash crops such as tobacco. Government must make it mandatory for every farmer to have a certain hectarage under food crops.
Government itself must make sure that farmers who remit grain are incentivised. The biggest incentive would come in the form of timely payment for such grain by GMB. The board currently owes farmers over US$6 million.
As a result, farmers, some of whom have gone for two years without receiving their payment, have downsized production of food crops and this has gravely compromised food security.
Government is set to mobilise 2,2 million tonnes of maize for domestic consumption this year. Unless all stakeholders join hands in this cause, the target will remain an eternal pipe dream.
Apart from paying farmers timely, the buying price of the grain must also be encouraging. The current price, which is less than what is paid for imported maize, discourages farmers from remitting to the GMB. Some farmers instead prefer to sell baby-corn.
The Bankers Association of Zimbabwe recently stated that banks would not provide agri-loans to farmers on the basis of the 99-year leases and offer letters. It’s high time these leases become bankable to enable farmers to get funding to purchase agric-inputs, technology and infrastructure.
BAZ president, Mr George Guvamatanga said the banks funded cash crop farmers because they had proper structures that gave them assurance that they would get back their money. Mr Guvamatanga should be reminded that proper structures are brought about by proper funding.
The banking sector must not take the issue of food security lightly. The consequences of food insecurity hit hardest on business. Chronic hunger poses a threat to the stability of governments and societies.
Instead of crying for funding from the unwilling banks, a revolving fund administered by GMB could also be a panacea to the funding challenges. Alternatively, a land reform agenda in the form of insurance can assist farmers. There is also a need to capitalise Agribank.
Online Reporter