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Dr Made

George Chisoko Senior Assistant Editor—
Zimbabwe is poised for a bumper crop harvest this season after farmers put 2,2 million hectares of land under cereal crops, with the staple maize accounting for the bulk of the hectarage following the provision of US$180 million worth of inputs under the Presidential Inputs Support Scheme.

The scheme, a brain child of President Mugabe, augments crop production at household level through timeous distribution of inputs and was this year coupled with good rainfall to boost the total cereal crops hectarage, which stood at 1,9 million hectares in the 2012-2013 season.

Small grains — sorghum and pearl millet — fared very well, recording seven percent and 22 percent increases in hectarage, respectively.
Strides that have been made in agriculture through the provision of inputs and other related factors of production dovetail with Government’s economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, which identifies agriculture as a key pillar in economic turnaround.

The increase in land under cropping has not been confined to cereals.
Tobacco and soyabean have also recorded big jumps of 21 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

According to the first round crop and livestock assessment report 2013-2014 season presented to Cabinet this week by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, the hectarage under maize rose to 1 655 366 hectares in the 2013-2014 season against 1 408 329 hectares in the 2012-2013 season.

Barring any other adverse factors, the yield level should be high given there was a 100 percent delivery of all seed that Government ordered from seed houses and a combined 90 percent delivery of Compound D and top dressing fertilisers.

Land put under tobacco increased to 107 371 hectares from last season’s 88 623, while soyabeans’ hectarage jumped from 51 714 hectares to 67 507 hectares.

The anticipated bumper crop harvest could see Zimbabwe reclaiming its breadbasket status and once again becoming a net exporter of food. This would have a positive bearing on the import bill, which should fall dramatically as food security is attained at household and national level, with surplus exported for revenue.

In an interview last night, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made was upbeat that food security would be attained.

The minister credited the huge increase in hectarage under cropping to President Mugabe’s call to adopt a strategy that looked at food security at the household level.

This approach saw 1 617 200 people accessing inputs under the Government Input Facility and was complemented by contract farming.
“Most importantly, it is the President’s call to have production looked at the family, the household level that had a big influence in the hectarage increasing. The natural phenomena also favoured us in that we had more than normal rainfall spread across the whole country and also the contribution of the small grains.

“The massive increase in hectarage and the anticipated high production even had His Excellency, the President making reference that the crop looks like what it was in 1980, 81 thereabouts. It is the same strategy of people first that saw us achieveing food self sufficiency in the 1980’s that was adopted this season and certainly we should not go wrong when the second assessment report showing the yield and production figures,” said Dr Made.

He said inputs suppliers should be commended for making seeds readily avaialble.
“If all inputs suppliers had a good heart like seed houses, definitely we would have been somewhere with production. We had hoped that fertiliser companies would increase their delivery of both Compound D and top dressing to 80 percent instead of the 47 percent, then we would have been somewhere. But we hope they will improve next season.”

What has also clearly emerged from the statistics is that national food security can be achieved if inputs are given to households at the communal, resettlement and small-scale level because of the attention to detail they give to production, especially in a season of good rains.

Owing to the Presidential Inputs Scheme, the increase in hectarage under maize was largely driven by gains in the communal sector, which rose from 859 080ha last season to 1 038 494ha this season. There were also rises in land under maize in the A1, A2, peri-urban and the small-scale commercial farming sectors.

Dr Made said while cattle figures had risen to 5 368 105 from last season’s 5 241 192, the sector remained of greater concern.
“The President has lamented the state of the livestock sector and we really need to look at it. Yes the the figure in terms of cattle has gone up, it is the quality of the cattle which is a matter of concern. We really need to look at the calving rate to see if it can be improved.

“The issue of livestock diseases, livestock treatment, livestock husbandry and veterinary medicine are issues that we must look at. Indeed it is time we engage in less talk and more action in livestock production,” said Dr Made.

The minister called on the Grain Marketing Board to concentrate on finding money to pay farmers promptly.
“We need to build up on this momentum where our farmers have shown they are inherently farmers, that they are very resilient and are prepared to work on the land at whatever cost to produce. We urge farmers to continue delivering to the GMB and that the GMB must play its part by paying them in time for their deliveries.’’

The positive developments in agriculture are bad news for opponents of land reforms, who have claimed new farmers cannot gaurantee food security.

Analysts anticipated a fall in crop production in the early years of land reforms as farmers settled on the land, with figures rising as systems fell in place.