Zimpapers Logo

The announcement of the imminent farm mechanisation programme to empower smallholder farmers and help boost production is great news. Certainly with enough planning and effective monitoring and evaluation strategies, the mechanisation programme will see the country reach new milestones in agricultural production.

Traditionally household food security was assured through smallholder production of maize and other cereals. During the colonial era rural farmers and black commercial farmers in the freeholds termed African Purchase Lands were key in providing the staple food for the majority of the populace. From these groups outstanding rural farmers were the proud possessors of Master Farmer badges and accompanying prestige and benefits, however limited, the latter may have been. Many of them managed to educate their children at boarding schools and upgrade their lifestyles in keeping with the goals of the time.

It is important that we go back into history and assess how the production model worked back then so that the mechanisation programme is complemented in all pertinent areas for guaranteed success. First of all, Grain Marketing Board operations need to be revitalised so that farmers get their money timeously instead of the current scenario where farmers go into the next two farming seasons without getting paid for the last deliveries.

We urge the Government to get back to the old policy of empowering rural communities through growth points. Such service centres will ensure that the small holder farmer has all the support that they need.

For example, in the past the Agricultural Finance Corporation had a wide footprint and all classes of farmer were able to access working capital. Financial literacy is a skill that many smallholder farmers lack and that is why many of them labour extensively for little rewards leading to disenchantment. It also makes some farmers fail to separate capital from profit and thereby not invest in future production, expansion and or intensification.

The use of ICTs in agriculture should also be taken on board as it has already been proved that information dissemination empowers the farmer through ready access to best practices, new products as they become available, markets and demand as well as regular and accurate weather reports and predictions.

An informed farmer will find it easier to produce profitably, diversify and adapt to shifting needs and conditions. Our yield per hectare for most crops especially maize is currently way below that of our neighbours like South Africa and therefore farmers need to work with higher targets.

We applaud the President’s on spot call for the country to take climate change seriously and develop a national irrigation policy to counter the effects. Currently, the country is facing a maize supply deficit after erratic rainfall patterns disturbed the farming season even in traditionally wet areas like Region One and Two.

Yet at the same time the country has received above average rainfall as predicted by the weather experts. If the rainwater was being efficiently harvested we would have enough for all year round production. There are many irrigation schemes that only need rehabilitation to push up their production by highly appreciable percentages. There is also need to build new dams and new irrigation infrastructure across the country.

We are sure that the relevant officials have many other ideas that they are implementing. However, we would like to point out that this is not the first such scheme and we hope that whatever gremlins that tampered with the other schemes have been effectively neutralised.

For example we should assess why schemes like Bacossi did not achieve the desired results.

We also hope that there will be an audit of previous beneficiaries of such schemes who must account for their receipts before being taken aboard the new programme.

It is an open secret that some people who benefited from such Government initiatives not only chose not to pay back, but also never went on to produce the expected agricultural targets.

But the bell has been sounded on corruption and we hope the usual suspects now realise that they are not immune to prosecution and will think twice before stealing from the nation again.