Agriculture Reporter

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, John Basera has said nutrition and incomes are key aspects in attaining Vision 2030 objectives under the Presidential Horticulture Programme.

Posting on his Twitter account yesterday, the Permanent Secretary emphasised that nutritional gardens will be established at each of the country’s villages by year 2025.

“Each of the 26 000 villages in Zimbabwe will have each one nutrition, income garden by year 2025 under the Presidential Horticulture Programme. Enhanced nutrition and incomes are key aspects in the attainment of Vision 2030 objectives,” he said.

Government last year approved a US$2 billion Horticulture Recovery Plan, which is targeting 1.8 million rural households under the Presidential Horticulture Scheme.

The Horticulture Recovery Plan is part of Government initiatives under the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy (2020-2025) to transform agriculture from a US$5.2 billion to a US$8.2 billion sector, contributing 20 percent of GDP by 2025 in line with the vision of making Zimbabwe, an upper middle income country by 2030.

The Presidential Horticulture Scheme covers household tree planting, village nutrition gardens, ward-based youth vegetable and horticulture gardens and orchards, schools vegetable and horticulture projects among other various projects.

According to Government, over 25 000 boreholes will be sunk in all villages and schools to ensure viability, sustainability and climate proof the Presidential Horticulture Scheme.

Recently, the Ministry launched a demonstration plot in Rushinga, Mashonaland Central Province, where a nutrition garden would be established to cater for people in that area.