Zimbabwe takes aim at revised grain targets

AGRICULTURE minister Anxious Masuka says marketing of grain during the 2022/23 season will be geared towards the revised strategic grain reserve target of 1,5 million metric tonnes.

This comes after the government last year increased the strategic reserves from 500 000 metric tonnes to 1,5 million metric tonnes, after a bumper harvest following a high rainfall cropping season.

“In terms of markets, the government will continue to purchase grains to build up the Strategic Grain Reserve to the revised 1,5 million metric tonnes (comprising 300 000 metric tonnes traditional grains and 1,2 million metric tonnes maize) and some wheat strategic grain reserve,” Masuka said last week.
He said the government was expecting to build on an expected record wheat harvest for this year as it approaches the summer season.
“The winter wheat season has shown that working collectively and collaboratively we can achieve self-sufficiency.
“An unprecedented 80 000 hectares have been put under wheat with an expected harvest of over 384 000 metric tonnes, the highest in the history of the country,” Masuka said.
“We must build on this momentum into the summer season to assure our nation of perennial food security, away from the episodic weather-deterred food security escapades of the past”.
He added that improvements to government programmes such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa would help boost production towards the new targets.
“With the Presidential Climate-proofed Input Scheme (Pfumvudza / Intwasa) now better fine-tuned so that what is grown or reared is determined by the requirements of the agro-ecological region, and the establishment of 35 000 Farmer Field Schools across 35 000 villages, we are laying a firm foundation for resilient and robust agricultural growth,” Masuka said.

“In the process, some 3,5 million rural households and 500 000 peri-rural (previously peri-urban) families are benefitting countrywide,” he added.
Pfumvudza/Intwasa is one of a host of government-supported agriculture programmes.

“In the large-scale sector, irrigation rehabilitation and development is taking place at an accelerated pace. In the livestock sector, through the Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Scheme, we have reduced disease-induced cattle deaths by 50 percent paving the way for national head rebuilding,” Masuka explained.

“Regarding smaller stock, the Presidential Rural Poultry Scheme and the Presidential Goat Scheme, both recently launched, will spur growth in this sub-sector”.

“In the 2020/21 season, the Pfumvudza / Intwasa programme contributed to an increase of 41 percent in national production, with productivity levels also increasing from about 0,5 metric tonnes per hectare to 1,3 metric tonnes per hectare,” he added.
Meanwhile, Masuka said the Zimbabwe Mercantile Exchange will be supported, initially for non-strategic food crops.

“The Warehouse Receipt System is now operational and should be used by contractors,” he said.
The government has also said it is working on legislative changes, reviewing various land-related acts and the 99-year lease, and those related to the marketing of grain, including SI 145 of 2019.

“Land is an economic enabler. I urge all A1 and A2 farmers to use this productively and to complete the Annual Production and Productivity Returns.
“The Annual Production and Productivity Return Forms are now the basis for the issuance of 99-year leases,” he said.
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