By Patience Rashai
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called upon provinces to utilise the recently launched Agriculture Recovery Plan model for agriculture and economic productivity.
Calling on cooperation towards devolution of power from the country’s 10 State Provincial Ministers, at the State House, the President said there was need to adopt the recovery model, for provinces to enhance productivity on the land.
“Our agricultural sector must remain vibrant and the nucleus around which can leapfrog our development and modernisation. As such, Government recently launched the Agriculture Recovery Plan, to ensure agriculture transformation and modernisation for the attainment of food self-sufficiency through Smart Agriculture practices.
“This plan will in turn facilitate diversification of food production and consumption, speeding up irrigation and mechanisation development programmes, the creation of Green belts, in areas such as Masvingo, Bulawayo Kraal, Kanyemba, among others, improving and capacitating our extension services as well as the overall innovation and modernisation to agriculture, among other aspects,” he said.
He added that the ongoing downsizing of farms would avail more land for productive use.
“Our farming land must be used effectively and optimally. The days of people holding large tracks of idle land are over. The ‘use it or lose it’ principle will apply over and above the maximum farm size principle,” he said.
The President lamented on the negative impact that the three successive years of drought coupled with disasters such as Cyclone Idai and COVID-19 pandemic have had on the country’s economic growth projections.
He appealed to Provincial Ministers to popularise the Pfumvudza Framing Concept to communal and small holder farmers, adding that Government would continue availing resources to support farmers through the Presidential Input Support Scheme and the Command Agriculture Programme, under the new financing model.
Going forward, the President appealed for qualitative provincial reports from Ministers which have both economic and social indicators that track developmental success, total investments attracted into the province, total employment created, export earnings, import substitution initiatives, among other things.
