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Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri

Rutendo Rori Marondera Correspondent
Mashonaland East Province is expecting to yield close to 2 000 tonnes of wheat under Government’s Command Agriculture Programme this season, Minister of State for the province Retired Brigadier-General Ambrose Mutinhiri has said. Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said the wheat was almost ready, with some districts already harvesting.

“As a province, we had 7 152.3 hectares of wheat and of these 5 175.5 hectares are under command agriculture and 1 976.8 hectares are under private companies. The wheat is almost ready now and in some areas they are already harvesting. About six hectares have so far been harvested,” he said.

The number of farmers in wheat production, Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said, had increased by 60 percent as compared to last year.

“Goromonzi District is leading with 2 237 hectares, followed by Marondera which had 1 419 hectares. In Marondera district, we have already harvested 50 hectares of the command agriculture wheat and we expect that by end of this month we would have harvested most of the crop to avoid the rainy season,” he said.

Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said the province was facing a challenge of inadequate combine harvesters and this would result in delaying the process of harvesting.

“The province has very few combine harvesters although some farmers have them, so if there are going to be any delays it would be a result of the shortage of combine harvesters. Wards Nine and 12 in Seke were experiencing some damage to the crops by unidentified worms which the division of plant protection is working on,” he said.

Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri said about 36 676.35 metric tonnes of maize were delivered to GMB under Command Agriculture and 39 881.78 metric tonnes were delivered from private companies.

“The distribution of inputs has just started for irrigation farmers. They have started receiving their fuel, fertilisers and I believe by end of this month farmers would have received their inputs, according to the information that I have,” he said.

Rtd Brig-Gen Mutinhiri commended the Command Agriculture Programme and said it was going to change the country’s economy for the better.

“The Command Agric Programme is very useful and successful and we believe it is going to bring back Zimbabwe its status as the bread basket of the region,” he said.

Wheat is among the food stuffs earmarked for mandatory food fortification. The Ministry of Health and Child Care set July 1 for the commencement of the mandatory food fortification of the selected food vehicles such as vegetable oils, sugar, wheat and commercially milled maize meal, arguing that it was cognizant for the primacy of disease prevention.

During a tour of farms under command agriculture in Mashonaland East recently, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the Command Wheat Programme was a success story and urged beneficiaries of the programme to develop a culture of accountability by putting the inputs to good use. He said farmers should desist from lying on the inputs they got to evade repayment of loans as Command Agriculture Taskforce had knowledgeable experts.

VP Mnangagwa said the country would be able to produce sufficient wheat to meet the national demand of 400 000 tonnes in three to five years.