The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Farming Reporter
THE ban of imported fresh horticultural produce is likely to be permanent as Government seeks to ensure improved productivity and competitiveness of local farmers, a senior Government official said.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Deputy Minister Davis Marapira who is responsible for crop production and irrigation development said the suspension of the importation of all perishable agricultural produce and cancellation of all existing import permits early this year was aimed at improving viability in farms.
“The ban of all imported horticultural products should be permanent. The reason being that banning will help reduce the country’s import bill as well as create employment for our people. We have to promote our local farmers to be able to support our markets. The banning will again give farmers a chance to be competitive since they will be given the leeway to be able to supply the local market and besides reducing the import bill it will help us a long way in reviving our economy,” said Dep Minister Marapira.
He said Government has come up with a number of programmes aimed at supporting farmers to improve production.
“As Government we support irrigation development, you have seen through the Brazil Scheme, we brought in state-of-the-art centre pivots and hose reels for our horticultural farmers to be able to compete with other farmers in South Africa and we are also trying to come up with an inputs support programme, which will again support the horticultural farmers for them to be able to be competitive and be able to compete with other regions,” said Dep Minister Marapira.
The country secured a $98 million loan to buy irrigation equipment, tractors and implements through Brazil’s More Food for Africa programme two years ago.
“As the Ministry of Agriculture we have come up with a lot of programmes for our farmers to be able to go back to their fields.
You may want to know that contract farming and joint ventures are now Government policies. We have allowed our farmers to join hands with people with finance or capital,” said Dep Minister Marapira.
He said Government has also launched the $500 million Command Agriculture Scheme. The programme, which aims to produce 2 million tonnes of maize on 400 000 hectares of land, will see identified farmers being given inputs, irrigation and mechanised equipment.
“As Government we have come up with a new policy, which supports agriculture, which is Command Agriculture. The Command Agriculture will help our farmers with 100 hectares and above all with equipment, implements and at the same time inputs. The farmers will in turn give Government five tonnes of maize every year for the next phases as means of paying for the facility offered to them,” said Dep Minister Marapira.
@DNsingo
