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THE country’s largest diversified media group, Zimbabwe Newspapers (1980) Limited, in partnership with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, will host the 2024-25 summer plan workshop tomorrow.
The event, set to take place in Harare under the theme “Ensuring food, feed, and oilseed security,” aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the Government’s agricultural strategy.
The one-day event will feature Professor Obert Jiri, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, as the guest speaker.
Key figures expected to make presentations include CBZ AgroYield CEO Mr Simba Mhungu, Arda board chairman Mr Ivan Graig, Zimbabwe Association of Dairy Farmers CEO Mrs Paidamoyo Chadoka, and Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Dr Shadreck Makombe among others.
The workshop follows a challenging 2023/24 season marked by extreme weather conditions, including the El Nino-induced drought.
The drought has severely impacted Zimbabwe and other southern African countries, decimating crops, depleting water sources, and leaving millions on the brink of starvation.
In response, President Mnangagwa has declared the 2023/2024 agricultural season a State of National Disaster due to the resulting food deficits.
The objectives of the conference include identifying critical elements such as crop selection, irrigation methods, pest control, and soil management.
Additionally, the event aims to encourage collaboration among farmers and policymakers and emphasize agro-ecological matching, climate-smart technologies, and input availability and distribution modalities.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet noted that following the launch of the Accelerated Irrigation Rehabilitation and Development Plan by President Mnangagwa in 2021, the area under irrigation across the country has increased by 28 percent from 169 000 hectares in 2019 to 217 000 hectares.
Following the launch of the Accelerated Irrigation Rehabilitation and Development Plan, the average irrigable area developed increased from an average of 487 hectares per year from 1980 to 2019 to an average of 9 600 hectares per year from 2019 to 2024.
Online Reporter