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Sharon Shayanewako

The disbursement of inputs under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa Programme to all GMB depots nationwide has been scaled up, with collection by farmers expected to start soon, Agriculture and Rural Development Advisory Service (ARDAS) chief director Professor Obert Jiri said yesterday.

“As the summer season is fast approaching with the predicted normal to above normal rainfall giving farmers hope, the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme is progressing very well with the collection of inputs by farmers on the horizon,” said Prof Jiri.

“We are working hard to ensure that farmers get their input packages before the commencement of the first effective rains in order that they plant early in the season.

“Currently, the up-scaling movement of Pfumvudza/Intwasa inputs to Grain Marketing Board depots is underway and anytime soon, farmers will start receiving the inputs to give them a head-start of the summer cropping season.”

Distribution of inputs will be done across the country.

Prof Jiri said inputs would be delivered to distribution centres inwards with farmers collecting from such points and a distribution committee will oversee the distribution exercise at the ward centres.

The Pfumvudza programme is a crop production method under which farmers ensure the efficient use of resources on a small area of land in order to optimise its management.

Prof Jiri urged farmers to adhere to all Pfumvudza principles or tenets which include holing out as well as mulching for them to qualify under for the programme.

Agriculture and Rural Development Advisory Service, chief agronomist, Ms Rutendo Nhongonhema, said early distribution of inputs gives farmers an early start to the cropping season and increased productivity because crops will quickly establish and vigorously grow due to high heat units.

“Early establishment of crops also gives them enough time to grow to their full potential and hence increased production,” said Ms Nhongonhema.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZCFU) president Dr Shadreck Makombe applauded the Government for initiating the Pfumvudza programme and early distribution of inputs, which helps to ensure national food security.

This year’s Pfumvudza programme is targeting 3,5 million farmers, up from 2,7 million last year, in communal, A1, small-scale commercial farming, old resettlement and urban farming sectors for cereal, oilseed and legume production.

The programme will support five Pfumvudza plots, each measuring 39m X 16m per household.

The input packages cover maize, sorghum, pearl millet, soya beans, sunflower groundnuts, vegetables and African peas. Each farming household will get an input package that is agro-ecologically based.

The package will also include water retention enhancers, herbicides package for three plots and a fall-armyworm control package.

The Government has already released $20 billion towards the Pfumvudza programme to boost food security.

The 2022/2023 summer programme’s strategic objective is to sustainably increase crop production and productivity to meet and surpass the national requirements for both human consumption and industrial use through the implementation of the key tenets of the Agriculture Recovery Plan.