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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
THE just-ended Zanu-PF Annual National People’s Conference has implored Government to craft policies that ensure sustainable funding for agriculture, stressing food security was critical for economic turnaround. In resolutions adopted at the end of the conference in Chinhoyi last week, the revolutionary party emphasised the need to revive irrigation facilities and dam construction.

The conference recognised “the strategic importance of food security as a sine qua non of Zimbabwe’s socio-economic transformation.”

Added the party: “Government should improve and enhance policy mechanisms for ensuring sustainable funding for agriculture to guarantee food and nutrition security in the country and to facilitate through Parliament the streamlining and improvement of enabling legal and policy frameworks in agriculture, food and nutrition sectors.”

The party also stressed the need to capitalise Agribank so it could provide long-term funding to farmers.
“To urge Government to expedite the recapitalisation of Agribank under Zim Asset, to enable it to offer concessionary funding facilities to A2 farmers and to exhort relevant Ministries in Government to widen the sources of agriculture financing in addition to current contract farming structures,” the party said.

Food Security and Nutrition has been identified as one of the four clusters underpinning the implementation of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset), economic blueprint adopted by Government.

Zanu-PF also said Government should encourage water harvesting programmes and “ensure that irrigation and water supply systems are revamped and that the national dam construction programme is enabled as a matter of urgency.”

The party said it was important that initiatives to support cropping and livestock production established by President Mugabe be supported by Government while other well-wishers should be encouraged to do so.

The party also resolved that Government should establish an Agriculture Commodity Exchange to ensure vibrant marketing of agricultural produce.