Government pledges more support for farmers

LANDS, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister Air Marshal Perrance Shiri (Retired) says increased support is needed to capacitate new farmers for the country to achieve food security and boost export earnings.

With Agriculture as the mainstay of the economy, small holder farmers have a huge capacity to bolster output if given adequate support, said the Minister.

He made the remarks soon after touring the intergraded Zhovhe Farm owned by Top Pick Investments in Beitbridge recently. The farm does fisheries, wheat production, maize, livestock farming and milling.

The Minister stressed the need for farmers to engage each other in understanding the agriculture value chain and opportunities for growth.

“Government is there to create an enabling environment like the Command Agriculture element where it gives farmers inputs and they have to do the rest. In addition, it is there to provide security so that there is total stability on the farms so that people can do their day to day businesses undisturbed,” he said.

“It is also very critical for us as a Government to continue facilitating the importation of key equipment and inputs by our farmers to enhance their productivity and capacity issues. We must avail more resources so that farmers mechanise and adapt to other relevant smart farming methods.”

Minister Shiri said farming was a business hence communities should thrive to be self sufficient as opposed to being entirely spoon fed by Government. As such, he said, farmers need to embrace trainings and broaden their horizons so that they take advantage of capacity building programmes through the agrarian reform. He said though Government had made great strides in capacitating most farmers, some were still facing a host of challenges.

These include shortages of irrigation equipment, tractors and centre pivots among others. The Minister said so far a local company had started manufacturing centre pivots, which would be accessible to farmers.

“Other issues affecting productivity include limited knowledge on agriculture related issues. At the moment we are seized with improving on mechanisation, resuscitating irrigation farming in areas where crops don’t do well under the current rainfall patterns,” Min Shiri said.

Agriculture and Rural Development Authority chairman Mr Basil Nyabadza said it was very critical for farmers to improve on the value chains and develop templates on retaining value and boosting economic growth in their respective areas.

“We must assist the farmers to target Government institutions as consumers or end users of their products. These include the prisons and hospital among others.

“Rural development should be anchored on food security, productivity and our famers should focus on growing dedicated crops for export. Devolution of an economy speaks to retention of value at source,” he said.