President Emmerson Mnangagwa says his government is going to rehabilitate all sectors of agriculture.
Addressing a virtual meeting yesterday, President Mnangagwa said the government has put in place various development initiatives to rehabilitate the agricultural sector.
“To this end, my government has identified an array of key programmes and projects for the transformation of agriculture. These include the climate-proofing Pfumvudza/lntwasa concept; design, construction, rehabilitation and expansion of irrigation infrastructure; adoption of efficient water use technologies; promotion of the highly nutritious traditional grains; agriculture mechanisation; as well as soil conditioning and fertility management, among others,” he said.
He also added that the government had set aside funds to support the agricultural sector to increase agricultural productivity.
“To mitigate the challenges associated with agriculture financing, the Agricultural Finance Corporation has been established. Models of strengthening existing contract farming arrangements are constantly reviewed to increase overall agriculture productivity, profitability, and fairness, over and above the access to finance aspect,” said Mnangagwa.
On his twitter handle, the Zanu Pf First Secretary insisted that the move for the transformation of agriculture by his administration will ensure that Zimbabwe attains breadbasket of Africa status once again.
“We are having an agricultural revolution! Once more we shall become the breadbasket of Africa. In Zimbabwe between 2020 and 2021, crop yield is expected to increase by 199 percent for maize harvest, 128 percent for the harvest of traditional grains (and) 94 percent for cotton harvest,” the President said on Twitter.
Meanwhile, there is an improvement in maize yields across the country which was capacitated by the increase in amount of rainfall in the last rainy season.
More so, Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka recently said the government also aims to transform about 18,000 small-scale farmers into agricultural entrepreneurs by the year 2025.
In Addition, Zimbabwe is anticipating to record huge maize harvest since the Land Reform Program of the early 2000s, with 2.8 million tones expected to be delivered to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
According to the Second Crop and Livestock Assessment Report produced by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, a surplus of over 820 000 tonnes of cereals is expected this season, the highest yield since the 2000/2001 season.
