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Lieutenant General Philip Valerio Sibanda has said.
In an interview after the launch of the ZNA farming input scheme in Harare yesterday, Lt Gen Sibanda said it was critical to empower citizens including the uniformed forces to produce competitively in their farming ventures.
“A hungry person is easily manipulated by those who have the food, something that leaves a community unstable and insecure.
“That is what we are trying to avoid by making inputs available to our forces under this programme we have just launched today.
“It has come at a time when there has been a lot of talk about private- public partnerships and this is one such example of that partnership. We are working with seed company Pannar,” he said.
He said the deal would enable members of the army to access inputs on credit and repay over six months.
The scheme was introduced after a realising that soldiers had land but were unable to secure inputs because of the liquidity crunch affecting the country.
“Beneficiaries should make use of the inputs and not just collect them for the sake of doing so.
“They must move from the level of subsistence to commercial farming. They must also work closely with extension workers in their crop variety selection so that they put to good use the good rains that the weather experts are predicting for the 2011/12 season,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Pannar managing director, Mr Robert Nkatazo, challenged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the good season that had been forecast and produce adequately both for domestic consumption and foreign markets.
He said the programme would run exclusively for the next five years.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter