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Fidelis Munyoro Chief Reporter
GOVERNMENT measures to ensure the country remains productive through interventions such as the development of irrigation infrastructure, dam construction, promotion of small grains and farm diversification is the magic bullet needed to boost national food reserves.

The development of new dams and rehabilitation of old irrigation systems are critical interventions.
This, coupled with farm diversification (including legumes and pulses), will guarantee production in drought years.
For Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement Deputy Minister Vangelis Peter Haritatos, there is need for a change of mind, as growing maize every year is not viable.

“Our ministry has a great responsibility of ensuring that our nation is one day self-sufficient in the production of food,” he told The Herald.

“We need to get our land to be productive and this will come from farmers who are dedicated to the cause.
“The fact that we are not food secure is an alarming challenge that we have to seriously and urgently overcome.

“Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and once we get it right, we will take our nation to greater heights. This is also critical in ensuring that Vision 2030 is attained.”

The deputy minister strongly feels that the availability of short-season seed varieties is critical to help in the event of droughts.
“Droughts are becoming more frequent hence there should be concerted effort to produce drought and heat-tolerant varieties that mature early. We are working very closely with private seed houses on this,” he said.

Accurate weather forecasts are also critical as they will enable farmers to decide on appropriate crops depending on the outcome of the forecast, hence a strong publicity campaign on seasonal forecasts is a necessity.

Beatrice farmer Cde Pupurai Togarepi said support by Government to irrigation schemes has been very strategic.
“Rehabilitation of dams, irrigation equipment through Command, development of new irrigation facilities and de-siltation of rivers have seen more and more farmers embracing irrigation agriculture as this assures farmers of a predictable farming season,” he says.

“The number of dams is increasing as Government has prioritised irrigation as a means to fight perennial drought conditions caused by climate change.”

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Wonder Chabikwa says climate change is real and taking its toll and this calls for the nation to abandon reliance on rain-fed summer cropping.
“We have to have a national irrigation fund in place as it used to be,” he said.

“Installed irrigation capacity has to be revived with sources of water being underground and dams plus pools in rivers.”
He called for the modernisation of irrigation to increase efficiency in both water and energy usage.
“More dams need to be constructed and new irrigation infrastructure put in place,” said Mr Chabikwa.

“Raw water for farming use must not be charged as well as reintroduce electricity subsidies removed in 2009, as an incentive to farmers to irrigate.

“We hear Zambia and Egypt do not charge raw water for farming.”
Once the country is loaded with functional dams all over, this will be extremely instrumental in increasing the supply of water, which increases the nation’s irrigation potential.

Some of the dams have the potential to provide hydro-power, making it even more exciting for investors, and beneficial to the nation as this will increase the supply of power into the national grid.

Deputy Minister Haritatos, who has shown great interest in the development of dams, said the water bodies will also provide for other opportunities such as recreation (tourism), fisheries, among others.

Zimbabwe National Farmers Union executive director Mr Edward Dune said members have been calling for the expeditious establishment of an agricultural development fund that supports the farming community’s migration from subsistence to climate Smart Agriculture.

“We are supportive of this Government strategy to construct and rehabilitate dams and development of irrigation infrastructure and other critical interventions to uplift the economic well-being of the entire value chain actors in agriculture,” he says.

Getting agriculture moving is President Mnangagwa’s top priority under the new dispensation.
“Our economic policy will be predicated on our agriculture which is the mainstay,” said President Mnangagwa in his inaugural speech in November 2017, setting the tone for agricultural development.

The President, while restating that the principles that led to land reform cannot be “challenged” or “reversed”, called for a “commitment to the utilisation of the land for national food security and for the recovery of our economy.”
According to research, before 2000, Zimbabwe was known as the breadbasket of Africa.

“The breadbasket status has since been lost, and some studies attribute the low agriculture productivity to the changing agrarian structure following the land reform programme,” says agribusiness consultant Mr Innocent Kasiyano in his report

“Getting Zimbabwe’s agriculture moving again: The beckoning of new era” written in March last year.
During that period, agriculture accounted for between 9 and 15 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and between 20-33 percent of export earnings. Additionally, agriculture contributed over 60 percent of raw materials to agro-industries, with more than 70 percent Zimbabweans deriving their livelihoods from the sector.