Midlands in slow response to Command Agriculture
MIDLANDS Province has recorded a slow response to Command Agriculture after it failed to meet its target, an official has said.
The province is expected to put 17 000 hectares of land under maize under the programme.
In an interview, Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs Cde Jason Machaya said the Government had so far contracted 135 irrigation farmers and 2 001 dry planting farmers for the Command Agriculture scheme which was less than what the province expected.
Cde Machaya said Mberengwa farmers had not registered for the programme after no one from the Region Five agricultural zone had by October registered for command agriculture. He said the province has received adequate farming inputs for programme.
“Our Command Agriculture is on course and we are happy with the progress so far. We have done well on the irrigation side and we are trying to pick up on the dry land where the majority of our hectarage is. We are targeting 5 000ha for irrigation while we are targeting 12 000 ha. I am told that there were contract forms that ran out, that’s the challenge that we faced. There are farmers that had withdrawn due to the pricing structure but when that issue was resolved they are coming back and re-registering. As for Mberengwa farmers our figures were not good because the last time we had zero. No one had registered,” he said.
Mberengwa has since the turn of the millennium been prone to drought and has been heavily affected by the El Nino-induced drought. It recorded the highest number of people in need of food aid while it also recorded the highest number of deaths in animals that were affected by drought.
To ensure that the country is self-sufficient for its food requirements the Government launched Command Agriculture this year where 400 000 hectares of land will be put under maize crop countrywide.