Agriculture Reporter
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development (MLAFWRD), Dr John Basera, has said that agriculture remains one of the country’s best routes to reduce poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
In a statement yesterday, Dr Basera said the transformation of agriculture entails developing a robust sector that has mainstreamed mechanisms of reducing vulnerability, and maintaining and increasing the resilience of farmers and farming systems to negative climate change impacts.
“Agriculture remains Zimbabwe’s most direct route to reducing poverty, hunger and malnutrition given that 67% of the population resides in rural areas and relies on smallholder farming as a source of livelihood. The transformation of agriculture entails developing a robust sector that has mainstreamed mechanisms of reducing vulnerability of, and maintaining and increasing the resilience of farmers and farming systems to negative climate change impacts. Of late, for the 2021 season, the Agricultural sector has recorded a huge growth, with a confirmed figure of 36.4%, pushing the agriculture economy from a value of USD5.2 billion to USD8 billion agriculture economy,” said Dr Basera.
Dr Basera added that the growth in the agriculture sector in the country is a manifestation of the effort and continued implementation of the provisions articulated in the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy (AFTS) of the MLAFWRD.
He added that under the AFTS, the MLAFWRD is using the Climate Proofed Presidential Input Scheme commonly referred to as Pfumvudza to increase production, productivity, and food and nutrition security among the farming communities.
The Permanent Secretary further said that the MLAFWRD has upgraded its agricultural transformation strategic options basket by bringing in a crop insurance product pioneered in the region. He said that the inclusion of the Area Yield Index Crop Insurance in the basket of inputs for Pfumvudza/Intwasa smallholder farming beneficiaries under the technical guidance of Pula Advisors is meant to protect the farmers from the heavy impact of climate change vagaries.
Speaking on behalf of Pula Advisors, Regional Manager for Anglophone Africa, Cynthia Tapera said, “Pula Advisors designed the Area Yield Index Crop Insurance to insure farmers’ harvest in the Zimbabwean region. It is an insurance cover that insures farmers against a pre-set historical benchmark. The perils covered in this product are windstorm, frost, excessive rainfall, heat wave, hail, flood, drought, pest and diseases. The pilot will focus on the maize value chain”.
Other insurance products have been shunned by the farming communities in the past and the call has been to design an innovative product that is alive to agricultural realities.
