The Sunday News
Harare Bureau
GOVERNMENT has acquired inputs worth US$200 million under the Presidential Agricultural Input Scheme, which will benefit 1,6 million households this farming season.The inputs cover maize, wheat and cotton production, and are being dispensed at Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depots countrywide.
Each household will receive 50kgs of compound D fertiliser; 50kgs of ammonium nitrate and 10kgs of seed maize.
The package also includes 5kgs of cotton and wheat seed, as well as 2kgs of soya beans.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made said that Treasury sourced the funds.
“We have started distributing the inputs to farmers while (Finance and Economic Development) Minister Patrick Chinamasa is handling payments to suppliers. We are giving these Presidential goodwill inputs to communal; small-scale; A1 and resettlement farmers.”
Minister Made said the initiative, which traditionally targets maize, has been expanded this year to help 350 000 cotton growers facing production and marketing impediments.
“Cotton prices are very low around the entire world and this has affected cotton production not only in Zimbabwe, but worldwide. Input prices have also risen. A lot of farmers cannot afford to purchase inputs. The price of fertilisers and even maize has gone up and this causes low farming production.
“We want to revive cotton production; we will not let it die. We are going to give cotton farmers seed and spraying chemicals.”
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union (ZFU) president, Mr Abdul Nyathi, confirmed farmers in parts of Mashonaland Central received the inputs last week.
He said: “The inputs have started reaching farmers; they are good quality inputs. Fertilisers are going to communal farmers and I can confirm that farmers are happy.
“I understand other provinces will soon receive the inputs as logistical arrangements are being made.”
President Mugabe introduced the inputs scheme in 2011 to guarantee household food security.
Last season, small-holder farmers accounted for 75 percent of national grain production, which rose from 800 000 tonnes the previous season to 1,4 million tonnes.
The Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) also prioritises food security under its Food Security and Nutrition Cluster.
It focuses on giving small-holder farmers subsidised inputs, preparing summer and winter cropping timeously and developing drought-resistant seed varieties.
Further, Zimbabwe is one of the few countries fulfilling the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (Caadp) requirement to allocate 10 percent of national budgets to agriculture.
The programme advocates increased agriculture investment to reduce poverty and eradicate hunger.
At the African Union Summit in Equatorial Guinea in June, many member states expressed keen interest in Zimbabwe’s farming support mechanisms.
