Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr Anxious Masuka

AGRICULTURE is the vehicle which can be used in uplifting Zimbabweans out of poverty and powering the nation towards  attaining Vision 2030, Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka has said.

Minister Masuka has been in the province for a two-day engagement tour with farmers.

Addressing farmers in Ward 5, Hwedza, Minister Masuka emphasised the need for farmers to seriously consider farming as a business and revealed Government’s concern on value addition and beneficiation.

“Agriculture is the vehicle for uplifting Zimbabweans out of poverty, which is why President Mnangagwa supports the Presidential Input Programme and why we are putting in place Command Agriculture and other programmes because it is agriculture that will assist and power us out of poverty and into an upper middle income economy and society.

“Most people think Vision 2030 is to be achieved from Harare alone. No. It calls for everyone including you here. This kind of farming you are doing here in this province, on this farm, is commended and is contributing to the attainment of that Vision. Farming is a business and I see a lot of progress in this province.

“If everyone would treat farming as a business, we will become successful business people,” he said.

According to Tobacco Transformation Plan, there should be an increase in tobacco farming and also the issue of value addition is emphasised.

“We export our tobacco to 60 countries, they like it. So we need to grow more tobacco as a country. We currently produce 210 million kg annually and we need to increase production to 300 million kg because our tobacco is needed in many countries.

“However, the increase in that production is only achievable if those who grow tobacco follow all the processes religiously from growing up to harvesting. There should be a reduction also on post-harvest losses for the farmers to increase production.

“Study shows that demand for tobacco will increase particularly in Asia by year 2025. Zimbabwe contributes six percent of the world tobacco.

“However, after selling our tobacco, we only fetch US$1 billion. This means we are exporting value and jobs. Government is now saying we should value add before or by 2025 and retain the value of our tobacco.”

He also said that farmers should grow sunflowers and save money.

“We import 60 000 metric tonnes of cooking oil from South Africa and we pay US$ 200 million for that. Now President Mnangagwa said that should be a thing of the past, and said we should give that money to our farmers. So sunflower seed is coming, and every household is encouraged to grow it.

“We have to stop importing.”