Donors raise US$52m for farm inputs
by Own Correspondent Monday 25 October 2010
HARARE – Aid agencies have raised US$52 million for farm inputs to
Zimbabwean small-scale farmers as the southern African country targets a
bumper maize harvest during the 2010/11 farming season which begins next
month.
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said
some 556,000 households have been targeted to receive agricultural input
assistance from donors and 70 non-governmental organisations during the
2010/11 season.
“More than 19 donors and 70 NGOs are providing $52 million worth of
agriculture input support in the 2010/2011 season,” OCHA said.
About 330,000 households will receive assistance through direct input
distribution or closed voucher system with a pre-determined input pack while
179,000 households will receive open vouchers which give the farmers the
option to buy inputs of their choice.
About 50,000 households will receive livestock vouchers enabling them to buy
farm animals of their choice.
On average, the input support is sufficient to cover an area of 0.25 to 0.5
hectares per household, consisting of maize, sorghum or millet seeds as well
as legumes seed and fertilizer.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti last week also unveiled a US$30 million funding
package for the summer cropping programme, with the amount being divided
into two facilities.
One facility valued at US$8 million will target 100,000 vulnerable
households in areas not supported by the humanitarian community.
Beneficiaries will access inputs through a voucher system after
participating in a government programme to rehabilitate roads and other
state infrastructure.
Another government facility valued at US$22million will support 300,000
communal and old resettlement and A1 farmers with inputs from the Grain
Marketing Board at subsidised prices.
Zimbabwe is targeting producing two million tonnes of the staple maize
during the forthcoming season.
Agriculture plumbed new depths in 2008 when farmers produced 500,000 tonnes
of maize against national requirements of two million tonnes, but production
has since picked up in the past year to 1.35 million tonnes.