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Sharon Shayanewako

AGRICULTURE is set to anchor the Government’s rural development agenda with 2, 3 million farmers having so far completed training under the Pfumvudza programme ahead of the 2022/23 cropping season with a view to boost food security and income generation.

This comes as the country is targeting to attain its vision of becoming an upper-middle-income economy by 2030.

The Government introduced the climate-proofed Pfumvudza programme that made an instant impact on the food security situation of many formerly vulnerable households in communal, AI, small-scale commercial farming and old resettlement sectors and is now including cereals, oilseeds and legumes.

Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development chief director responsible for Agriculture Advisory Services Professor Obert Jiri yesterday told The Herald that training of farmers had been up-scaled to ensure they adopted good agronomic practices in line with the drive to ensure national and household food security.

“As the distribution of Pfumvudza inputs is in progress, training of farmers is also being intensified to ensure they fully adopt the basic tenets of Pfumvudza prior to planting. As a country, we want to ensure food security at all costs, therefore training of farmers is indeed vital,” he said.

Prof Jiri further noted that the Agritex department’s core mandate was to train farmers in various technical issues and technological innovations, as well as farming concepts, especially the current Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme.

Zimbabwe Integrated Commercial Farmers Union (ZICFU) president Mrs Mayiwepi Jiti said the delivery of extension services to farmers was key and would increase their production capacity.

“The delivery of extension services will result in farmers producing substantial tonnages and immensely assisting the population in terms of food security since they practise the Pfumvudza/Intwasa conservation agriculture, which has the potential to enhance yields,” Mrs Jiti said.

Meanwhile, over 10 000 tonnes of maize seed and 50 000 tonnes of fertiliser have been distributed under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa scheme with the Government assuring farmers that they will get sufficient inputs before the beginning of the rainy season.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZFCU) president, Dr Shadreck Makombe also added his voice saying:

“We are certain that the 2022/2023 summer cropping season is going to be a fruitful one. We are guaranteed in terms of food self-sufficiency, considering the way the distribution of Pfumvudza inputs is going on without hitches. We are indeed assured of improvement in food self-sufficiency at household level and we applause the Government for initiating Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme,” commented Dr Makombe.

This year the Government has remodeled the distribution of agricultural inputs under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme to match the agro-ecological regions in which the farmers are situated. This will both ensure optimum production and guarantee food security for the country.

Input distribution committees were set up in every ward to curb corruption.

In addition, land preparations for the 2022/2023 summer cropping season are underway in most parts of the country with the communal sector showing an overwhelming response to the conservation agriculture technique.

Good rains, which were predicted by the Meteorological Services Department and the massive rollout of the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme will increase the country’s food self-sufficiency as well as nutritional variability.