by Grace Chekai

President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday urged Zimbabweans to use the agricultural land productively saying that this will ensure food security in the country.

Speaking after touring the wheat farm owned by Bishop Nehemiah Mutendi (Pfumvudza Project) at Zion Christian Church (Mbungo) in Masvingo yesterday, where he also launched the Pfumvudza Presidential Input Scheme, President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe should be food sufficient in the next two years, if all people unite and work together.

 “In the next two years Zimbabwe should not import food. Everything else follows when people are not hungry, let’s unite and respect each other. I know that bad things are easy to do but let us strive to do good always. The solution lies in farming (and) this is what even the Lord expects from us. Let us use this land so that we don’t go hungry. Slowly, we are overcoming problems that beset us in the past,” said the President Mnangagwa.

The Pfumvudza programme launched by President Mnangagwa at Mbungo includes, production, value addition through processing of wheat and marketing with benefits accruing to local communities.

The President was pleased to see wheat being grown in the area and urged Bishop Mutendi to ensure value addition of the wheat is done at the farm.

 “This is the first year we have seen wheat in this area. We want value chain, value addition. The wheat is processed here to flour and it is then marketed. This is production, value addition and then marketing,” said the President Mnangagwa.

President Mnangagwa further urged Zimbabweans to productively use land, together with their God given talents to improve their lives.

 “This is our country. We have to use our God-given resources, the land, our talents. We were given this land, the animals and everything in it. We must feed ourselves because when people are well fed they can then pursue various professions. This is why Government is coming to you,” said the President.

President Mnangagwa further said that farmers who once benefited under Command Agriculture will this time access loans from CBZ and Agribank and those with draught power will benefit from the Presidential Inputs Scheme.

The Pfumvudza concept is a new farming concept introduced by Government to maximise productivity per unit area, even during drought periods, to ensure household and national food and nutritional security. Pfumvudza involves the utilisation of small pieces of land and applying the correct agronomic practices for higher returns.

This new farming concept, if properly implemented is going to ensure household food security.

Government has this year committed itself to support over 1,8 million households to produce 1,8 million tonnes of cereals and over 360 000 tonnes oil seeds under the Pfumvudza concept, a move that is likely to assist the country to achieve the Upper Middle Income Economy by 2030.