‘2017-18 Command Agric preps to start early’

GOVERNMENT will start mobilising inputs for the next farming season under Command Agriculture as early as July to avoid delays that affected the programme this season, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

He made the remarks during a tour of Chaminuka Vocational Training Centre in Mt Darwin.

The centre has 100 hectares of maize under the Command Agriculture programme.

Klein Karoo Seed marketing manager, Ms Beauty Magiya told VP Mnangagwa that her company had seed and were interested in being enrolled under the Command Agriculture programme.

“As K2, we have seed and we support Command Agriculture. We also want to be involved in Command Agriculture next season,” said Ms Magiya.

In his response, VP Mnangagwa said: “We will start buying seed in July.

“In fact, soon after winter wheat mobilisation for the next farming season.

“You can give details of the tonnes of seed that you have or your capacity to the Ministry of Agriculture then we can take it from there.”

Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and other stakeholders are on record saying late delivery of inputs affected Command Agriculture.

They urged Government to ensure beneficiaries of the Command Agriculture programme have inputs as early as September this year.

VP Mnangagwa, who chairs the Cabinet Committee on Food Security and Nutrition, said Government wanted every farmer to benefit from either Command Agriculture or the Presidential Input Scheme.

“We are very happy that financing for Command Agriculture and the Presidential Input Scheme was internally mobilised from our banking institutions, companies and pension funds.

“Zimbabweans support programmes that support this country and we thank them for that. As long as we are united, as long as we interact and as long as we identify stakeholders to a particular sub sector of the economy, we will be in agreement and we will succeed,” said VP Mnangagwa.

He said the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe led by Mr Tafadzwa Musarara had availed $8 million for refurbishment of silos.

VP Mnangagwa said the silos could only take about 700 000 tonnes yet the country expected at least two million tonnes of grain.

Oil pressing companies also pledged to contract soya beans farmers.

He said Government was looking for farmers to take up the project of soya beans farming.

VP Mnangagwa said Government was interested in value addition, which has seen a number of projects being set up including construction of silos, driers and milling plants in Matabeleland South.

Government also supported the construction of Zangrinda — a fruit and tomato processing plant in Norton.

He said a similar plant would be constructed in Esigodini, Matabeleland South.

VP Mnangagwa said a number of projects that the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) was involved in were now bearing fruits.

“These programmes are implementation of the President’s 10-point plan, which talks of revitalisation of agriculture,” said VP Mnangagwa.