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WE want to commend the Government for prioritising food security and national maize self-sufficiency by coming up with a $500 million command agriculture scheme which should transform the agricultural sector. Under the scheme, identified farmers will be provided with inputs, irrigation and mechanised equipment to increase maize production. We believe this focused approach to the investment of scarce national resources on targeted farmers should make it possible for Government to monitor use of inputs and levels of productivity.

With the distribution of land to thousands of Zimbabweans it was originally assumed that the burden of maize imports which gobbles millions of dollars annually would vanish as farmers got down to the serious business of farming.

However, that was not to be as successive droughts largely related to climate change and lack of hands-on experience in managing resources by land beneficiaries made it difficult for farmers to turn the vast tracts of land into greenbelts of crops.

The high cost of borrowing and expensive crop inputs have made food security a nightmare. Our people have always been known to be farmers and we believe that given the necessary support to mitigate the effects of climate change and some training in handling resources they can easily produce more than enough to feed this nation and possibly export to Southern Africa.

By coming up with the command agriculture initiative, the Government wants to ensure national food security. Under the scheme, the selected farmers will be provided with everything to guarantee production including agricultural extension services.

The channelling of national resources to identified farmers is a sure way of guaranteeing food security. The two millions tonnes of maize to be produced on 400 000 hectares of land is an achievable figure given that most farmers have some skeletal irrigation infrastructure such as underground pipes and hydrants.

Irrigation infrastructure at most farms only needs to be refurbished and that should not cost the Government huge amounts of money. However, Government should be careful in the selection of the farmers to produce under the command agriculture scheme. We need to be fair in the identification process and to include all farmers with irrigation infrastructure and have a demonstrable interest to invest in the land.

Most farmers have been failing to produce because of the high cost of borrowing and expensive inputs. Some farmers have experienced crop failure owing to drought and the command agriculture scheme presents an opportunity for them to seriously start making a living from farming while at the same time contributing to national food security.

We do not expect to see farmers being moved from where they are because officials want their cronies to benefit from the scheme. We have been told many times about the need for finality to land reform and as such some of the farmers who have not been able to produce over the years for the obvious reasons may now have the chance to prove themselves.

Let us empower farmers on the land they occupy now and not move them to pave way for our friends. We want to think the same farmers currently on the land can work wonders under the command scheme if everything is provided for under the supervision of extension and agronomic officers.

The command agriculture scheme is a very noble one as it will not only ensure national food self-sufficiency, but also improve the standard of living of the farmers. Let us take on board all the farmers with irrigation infrastructure and put them on the scheme.

Their past cropping performance should not be of consequence in considering beneficiaries of the latest scheme because they may have performed badly owing to drought, lack of access to cheap finance and the high cost of inputs. There is no doubt that the scheme will revolutionise agriculture in general and maize production in particular.