Plans are afoot to make Zimbabwe self-sufficient in soyabean production under the expanded Command Agriculture programme
Ray Bande in CHIPINGE
Command Agriculture programme will be spread to cover other crops as the country moves towards attaining food self-sufficiency, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.
VP Mnangagwa is on a tour of Command Agriculture projects countrywide.
Yesterday he was in Chipinge and Mutare in Manicaland Province where he was accompanied by Air Force Commander Air Marshal Perrance Shiri, Agriculture Ministry permanent secretary Mr Ringson Chitsiko and Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet Mr Justin Mpa- mhanga.
Addressing villagers at Taguta Farm owned by the Marange Apostolic sect in Madziwa village under Chief Mutema in Chipinge Central constituency, VP Mnangagwa said Government had already secured funding for soyabeans production to boost cooking oil supplies.
VP Mnangagwa said plans for wheat and cotton production were in place and land for production was currently being identified countrywide with funding for wheat production already secured.
Listen to the audio below:
He applauded the unity of purpose that prevailed in the implementation of Command Agriculture that saw $550 million needed for the programme being raised locally.
“This is the first year of implementation of the Command Agriculture programme and therefore there were bound to be challenges. We needed $550 million for the programme and I am happy to note that we sourced that amount locally. Not even a single cent came from outside the country.
“Now that we are witnessing the success of Command Agriculture programme, we are spreading the model to cover other crops. In fact, we now have a concerted cotton production plan in place. The same applies for soya- beans production which we need to ensure that we do not import soyabeans for cooking oil production.
“We did our research and discovered that we need about $36 million every season for soyabeans production to meet the required yield. We are currently looking for farmers in every province who can take up soyabeans production.
“As for wheat, we discovered that we need 350 000 to 400 000 metric tonnes of wheat to feed the nation from January to December. That means we would need 65 000 hectares of land to produce the amount of wheat we need.
“We recently got financiers for wheat production with one of them being able to fund 50 000 hectares of wheat production while the other three funding 5 000 hectares each. That means funding for the 65 000 hectares needed is already secured. Currently, we are looking for farmers on irrigable land who can take up the wheat production programme,” said VP Mnangagwa.
He warned those abusing inputs provided by Government under the Command Agriculture scheme that thorough investigations would be done and the law would take its course.
He was impressed with the production levels at Taguta Farm where a total of 140 hectares was put under Command Agriculture out of the 251-hectare farm.
The maize crop at the farm is now between soft dough and hard dough stage.
According to Seed Co head of commercial agronomy Mr John Basera, success at Taguta Farm is attributed to the use of good varietal choice, crop establishment, fertilisation as well as concerted weed control.