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Lawrence Chitumba Mash Central Correspondent
GOVERNMENT is committed to addressing issues of low farming productivity to ensure that food and nutrition security is attained among smallholder farmers, Mashonaland Central provincial administrator, Mr Cosmas Chiringa.

Speaking at the launch of the district Presidential Inputs Support Scheme for the 2018/19 agricultural season in Guruve recently, Mr Chiringa said Government would from now onwards avail the inputs to farmers by September each year.

“It is important to note that this is the first time that the Presidential Inputs Support Scheme has availed inputs to farmers early in the year,” he said.

“This shows our Government’s commitment to addressing issues of low productivity and to ensure that food and nutrition security is attained among our smallholder farmers and the country at large.

“Government, will from now onwards, target to avail the inputs to farmers by September 1 each year.”

Mr Chiringa said the climate change phenomena, which continued to affect farmers, especially the smallholder farming sector that rely largely on rain-fed farming demands, needed that every farming operation is timely executed to ensure successful crop harvests. He said the timely acquisition of farming inputs becomes very critical and hence the Government has taken the initiative to avail them to the smallholder farmers for them to start early preparations in the summer cropping season.

Mr Chiringa said low agricultural productivity among smallholder farmers could also be attributed to many factors such as inadequate capacities, hence the early distribution of inputs would allow extension workers adequate time to plan and work closely with farmers in the various aspects of production.

He called on all stakeholders to support Government’s initiative to address the country’s food and nutritional security concerns, adding that everyone had a specific role to play, be it civil society or private sector as an unhealthy and food insecure population would affect all people.