Obert Chifamba Manicaland Bureau Chief
MANICALAND Province should contribute to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) through diverse high-value agricultural crops it produces, courtesy of its exceptional climatic conditions, a senior Government official has said.

In an interview on the sidelines of a field day at Mangosho Farm, Nyanga, last week, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Senator Monica Mutsvangwa told The Herald that the province was endowed with all the five agro-ecological regions of the country, so it had capacity to produce more than all provinces.

“Manicaland has the capacity to produce high-value crops for lucrative foreign markets and earn foreign currency, which should feed into the GDP of the country,” she said.

“We need as a province to make sure that farmers do market-driven activities in which all crops are produced for specific markets to curb losses and also empower the producers.”

Sen Mutsvangwa lauded President Mnangagwa for introducing Command Agriculture, saying the programme had given farmers an opportunity to make use of the land effectively and productively.

“The programme allows farmers to get basic inputs, which most farmers fail to secure on their own, so there is no excuse for anyone to underutilise their land,” she said.

“We want the programme to cover all small grains from now going forward so that districts such as Buhera that are dry will also not experience food shortages.”

Sen Mutsvangwa said Government expected farmers to produce enough maize to feed the country and stop grain imports.

“To meet such production levels from the average hectares that we harvest each year, we need an average yield of 1,4 tonnes per hectare,” she said.

“We know that a high number of hectares are grown in the drier parts of Manicaland such as Buhera, parts of Mutare district, parts of Chimanimani and Chipinge districts where there are poor yields.

“This puts a lot of pressure on farmers in areas such as Nyanga that receive good rainfall to produce yields that are higher than 1,4 tonnes per hectare.”

Sen Mutsvangwa challenged farmers to target maize yields above of 1,4 tonnes per hectare, which is possible through working closely with Agritex, adopting modern farming technologies and use of effective and reputable inputs such as seed, fertilisers and chemicals like those coming through Command Agriculture.

She urged farmers to seek partnerships or get contractors, before she commended the role of companies such as Sygenta, Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company (ZFC), Intaba, MFS and Omnia that graced the field day and whose products the farmer had also used through the production process.

Zimbabwe needs two million tonnes of maize every year for both human and livestock consumption.