The Sunday News
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
The Government is working on formulating an Agro-biodiversity Policy that seeks to regulate all agricultural activities to ensure they are in line with preservation of biodiversity and are environmentally friendly.
Government through the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Fisheries has been carrying out provincial consultative meetings to collect input from stakeholders which will feed into the Agrobiodiversity Policy.
Agricultural biodiversity is defined as the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms that are used directly or indirectly for food.
Addressing stakeholders during a Matabeleland South consultative meeting in Gwanda last Wednesday, Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Fisheries economist, Mr Thabani Siziba said consultations have been held in all the provinces. He said the consultation meeting roped in stakeholders that have biodiversity as cross-cutting issues such as the agriculture and mining sectors, parastatals and various Government departments.
“We are working on formulating an Agrobiodiversity Policy whose objectives are to regulate agricultural production in terms of hazardous chemicals and synthetic chemicals that are harming the environment. The policy will also help in coming up with a framework that will govern the whole biodiversity scope in the country. From production to productivity, research and development, market and trade and even governance issues,” he said.
Mr Siziba added: “This is being done under the African Caribbean Pacific Multilateral Environment Project (ACP MEAs 3) which is in its third phase.”
He said the purpose of the consultation meetings was to get input from provinces which would then feed into the draft policy. He said stakeholders from each province were supposed to identify challenges in their areas and then come up with strategies they want to see being implemented.
Mr Siziba says once the draft policy has been formulated it will then come back to the provinces for validations.
“As a result of climate change agrobiodiversity is being lost faster that it is recovering. We also have veld fires which are causing the loss of biodiversity. Poor land use as settlements expand are also affecting biodiversity as you find some people settling in wetlands or protected areas.
He added: “Under agriculture production we have people who are over using or discriminately using pesticides that are not only harming the environment but humans as well. This policy seeks to engage farmers so that they can produce sustainably by moving to more sustainable chemicals like bio-products and bio-fertiliser.”
Fertiliser
Mr Siziba said while legal framework was also in place to address issues of environmental degradation the Agrobiodiversity Policy seeks to specifically pronounce agricultural issues. He said the information would cascade down to village level.
The policy is expected to regulate the country’s wealth of plant and animal species in its varied landscapes and aquatic ecosystems that have suffered from agricultural and urban expansion, mining, tourism, water and air pollution, invasive alien species, unsustainable harvesting of natural resources and the related impacts of climate change that are putting the country’s biodiversity and associated ecosystems under threat.
Of the country’s 39,6 million hectares of land about 42,1 percent are currently utilised for agriculture. The sector provides jobs for 60 to 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s population and contributes approximately 17 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP). Agriculture has been viewed as a priority sector in achieving sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
Currently, agricultural productivity is being sustained through heavy reliance on externally sourced synthetic agricultural inputs such as inorganic fertilisers and pesticides for soil fertility and pest/disease management, respectively, some of which are classified as highly hazardous pesticides which result in further demerit to flora and fauna and human life. – @DubeMatutu
