$100M FACILITY FOR ARDA:
THE African Export and Import Bank (Afreximbank) is set to avail a $100 million facility to Government for the recapitalisation of the Agricultural Rural Development Authority, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa has said.
The initiative is part of a number of measures Government is pursuing to enhance production on farms owned by ARDA and those acquired under the land resettlement programme’s A2 model.
Most of ARDA’s 21 farms are lying idle with Chisumbanje the only exception yet Zimbabwe faces serious threats of food shortages, especially in the wake of the drought this season.
Minister Chinamasa is on record saying, despite successful conclusion of land redistribution, production on A2 farms was still “scandalously” low and Government is seeking ways to shore it up.
Minister Chinamasa ran through an extensive list of the many multi-million dollar lines of credit the pan African bank has extended to Zimbabwe, now in excess of $4 billion cumulatively.
“With the support of the Afreximbank, we are going to conclude a $100 million facility, which will be spearheaded by ARDA; first to rehabilitate and resuscitate production on the ARDA farms and (secondly) to rehabilitate and resuscitate production on A2 (resettlement) farms.” Minister Chinamasa said.
Agriculture, which requires an average of $2 billion annually is strategic to Zimbabwe’s economy as it accounts for around 16 percent of the country’s ($10 billion) gross domestic product.
Lack of access to affordable funding, equipment and adequate farming inputs have often been cited for grossly poor production for an economy touted as being agro-based.
The Finance Minister made the remarks recently at a reception for Afreximbank president Dr Benedict Oramah, who pledged more assistance to Zimbabwe.
Afreximbank has extended financing facilities to Zimbabwe since starting operations around 1996 and runs loan lines of credit of over $500 million annually.
Minister Chinamasa said the ARDA facility will complement another initiative with similar thrust or objectives: “Brazil’s More Food for Africa Programme” and would boost production on farms.
Zimbabwe has already received $38 million under the $98 million facility that the South American economic giant has pledged, and this entails tractors, fertiliser, spreaders and irrigation kits targeted at supporting farmers, especially small scale.
“As far as we are concerned, we are going to pour more resources into irrigation rehabilitation and expansion. All this is possible because we have this support from Afreximank,” he added.
The minister also pointed out that Government had provided financial resources for the delineation of farms acquired under the fast track land reform programme to quell bounder disputes.
Further, he said funding had been made available to the Ministry of Lands and Land Resettlement for evaluation of farms acquired under the land reform programme for purposes of compensating former white commercial farmers for improvement, with only 1 500 farms having been evaluated out of 6 000.