Tinashe Makichi in Vic Falls
Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector recovery will require the mobilisation and investment of financial resources from both public and private sources, with the private sector having the responsibility of reviving the sector, an agricultural expert said.

Speaking at the 5th Buy Zimbabwe Buy local Summit yesterday in Victoria Falls, Former Zambia Agriculture Deputy Minister Chance Kabaghe said plans are needed to establish an actual workable agricultural recovery, but these appear to have been overlooked so far.

He said investments alone, however, will not lead to sustainability in agriculture and the broader economy. He said there was need for requisite factors of production and exchange.

“The private sector should spearhead the revival of the local agricultural sector. Private sector led management is key to agriculture development and results are always perfect.

“Zimbabwe has enough human capital in the private that is capable of supervising the agricultural sector and come up with the required results,” said Mr Kabaghe.

He said a reasonable plan is needed to identify the sequences of events needed to restore Zimbabwe’s physical and social infrastructure to acceptable levels of efficiency and dependability.

The private sector has enough expertise and resources to drive the agricultural sector forward but this only depends on efficient policies and infrastructure.

Mr Kabaghe said preliminary estimates should be made of the scale of restoration work needed to bring existing farms back to acceptable operating standard. He said Zimbabwe should come up with forward-looking policies that show a commitment to restore an attractive investment climate where experts are invited to make estimates of the time and funding that would be needed to restore and revive the agricultural sector.

Formal proposals could then be drafted to invite the participation of local and international bodies, among whom will be private sector investors.

“Undiluted attention has to be focused on actions that can deliver recovery and growth. Achieving success and restoring dependable flows of income from the efforts of people with proven technical and managerial skills would leave Zimbabwe far better placed to deal with the challenges currently domiciled in the agricultural sector.

“Investors will need reasons to feel confident that political issues over which they have no control will not derail them,” said Mr Kabaghe.

He said the private sector should also be in control of the agricultural markets and Government should just regulate these behind the scenes.

Mr Kabaghe said Zimbabwe is too rich to be poor considering that currently it produces the best maize quality compared to GMO’s from South Africa.