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Obert Chifamba-Agri-Insight

IT is that time of the year again when inputs distribution and the accompanying general preparations for a novel farming season mark the order of the day in all of the country’s four cardinal points.

Essentially, this is the point at which the foundation of every season — successful or vice versa is laid.

In recent times, most farmers have been fortunate to get a head start to the season, courtesy of the numerous input schemes Government has been rolling out.

The results have been telling in the vast improvements recorded in yields and the subsequent stabilising household food security situation.

Soon, the distribution of Pfumvudza/Intwasa inputs to farmers for the 2024/2025 summer cropping season will be starting. The good news is that seasonal weather projections are saying Zimbabwe will receive normal to above-normal rainfall associated with La Niña weather, which is expected to characterise the season.

So far, over 5 000 tonnes of crop inputs, which include maize, sunflower, sorghum, pearl millet, groundnuts, African peas and sugar beans have been delivered to Grain Marketing Board (GMB) depots across the country.

This shipment of inputs to GMB depots is a sure indication the Government will not be leaving anything to chance but pushing to make the most out of the positives associated with the La Nina weather expected in the 2024/25 season. The Government is targeting to increase production of cereals by 340 percent with 3, 5 million households set to benefit under the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme.

The targeted hectarage for Pfumvudza/Intwasa is 400 000 with 12 427 plots confirmed ready for planting.

Owners of the plots are now obviously waiting for their share of the input packages and will hit the ground running once the first meaningful rains are received.

This brings us to the prickliest issue the country has had to contend with every season — inputs distribution and the efforts to plug leakages.

Evidently, the Government is planning big, a decision influenced by the need to achieve food security for both people and livestock. This comes as the country is currently seized with saving both people and livestock from poverty deaths that could have been mitigated if the previous season had been generous enough to yield surplus grain to take care of all nutritional concerns.

Government’s drive must therefore be complemented by proper deployment of resources to ensure the projected targets are met.

Cases of inputs abuse by some unscrupulous individuals, which have become synonymous with the inputs distribution process every season must not be allowed to happen again. This calls for a new way of doing business on the part of all stakeholders from Government to the resource-constrained smallholder farmer out there in Maranda to whom those inputs mean everything for the season to succeed.

It is refreshing to note that Government has been making frantic efforts to plug all leakages in the past seasons but it cannot be there 24/7 to monitor the process, which requires all other stakeholders to be honest for the successful roll out of the programme.

The Virtual Depot Distribution Strategy that was duly introduced for the Presidential Inputs Schemes has proved to be a major success following an efficient inputs distribution process.

Under the strategy, inputs are meant to be distributed directly to farmers in a move that departs from the traditional way of doing business in which the inputs would be received by GMB for onward distribution to the intended beneficiaries — the farmers.

This system was prone to manipulation given that unscrupulous individuals could easily collude with some corrupt officials to do some underhand dealings.

This has since been dealt with, as farmers are now informed of the pending dates for inputs distribution in advance and will therefore gather to receive their packages. Besides reducing chances of inputs abuse, the system also comes with a bonus for the farmers, as it helps reduce costs given that prior to its introduction they would contribute money for transport, which was in some cases reportedly inflated to fleece them. However, for the system to survive the test of time, GMB must religiously work with the police to curb possible abuse of the inputs.

Of course it is always unfortunate that some individuals bent on nursing selfish egos will always find a way of manipulating systems but such cases must also be met with harsh penalties where someone is proven guilty.

In recent seasons some cases of inputs abuse were exposed with culprits getting penalised but that does not seem to have effectively rooted out the vice with inputs still being sold at undesignated points at give-away prices.

There are some people who are now waiting for the inputs distribution programmes to be rolled out before they start looking for cheap inputs from beneficiaries who will not be using their entire packages for the intended purpose.

It is important for strict monitoring of the use of the inputs and if there was a way, Agritex officers should use their records for every farmer to see how they would have deployed the inputs. Logically they should know how many hectares can be covered by a certain quantity of seed and fertiliser if applied correctly. Farmers who fail to meet those specifications should be treated as guilty of channelling the inputs to other uses.

This season, for instance, Government is targeting 9, 5 million plots of Pfumvudza/Intwasa and is duly releasing inputs enough to cover the targeted space.

It will be a misdemeanour analogous to an act of profanity in a great temple if the inputs dispensed fail to cover that hectarage, hence the need for stricter monitoring of how the inputs are going to be used.

From this season going forward it is crucial for extension officers and other stakeholders to make verifications on whether inputs released for specific crops and hectarages would have been used for that purpose.

If evidence on the ground suggests otherwise, then the farmer in question has a case to answer and must be penalised before being struck off the list of future beneficiaries.

On the one hand, there is also need for sponsors, be it Government or development agencies to do strict vetting of beneficiaries, as some of the farmers who receive inputs under the various programmes may not be deserving candidates of the assistance.

Deserving farmers need to be identified first before any programme is rolled out given that some of them may be in need of a different kind of support.

The vetting process should also consider the farmer’s performance the previous seasons to ensure inputs do not go to waste yearly.

It is possible to do so through accessing the farmer’s delivery records with GMB while Agritex officers should also record beneficiaries’ harvests.

One other way of reducing abuse of inputs may even be through tagging them with serial numbers for easy tracking. This means each bag of fertiliser, seed, or chemicals should have a serial number and when a farmer receives the inputs, the serial number should also be recorded by the dispensing officer against his name.

Serial numbers should be unique to each province or district to make it easy for police at roadblocks to confiscate suspicious inputs and identify their area of origin.

The buyer of such inputs should also be arrested and charged with complicity.