Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
CBZ Agro-Yield says it will this winter season invest US$45 million in the wheat crop on a targeted 30 000 hectares, up from US$30 million on 22 000 hectares last year.
This comes as the government has said the country will increase the area under wheat from about 80 000 hectares to 85 000 hectares this season.
It also follows a record harvest of 375 000 metric tonnes of the crop realised last winter, making the country self-sufficient in the commodity for the first time.
“We are targeting 30 000 hectares of winter wheat in line with the government’s theme of going for growth.
“The inputs are there; seed, chemicals, fertilisers and fuel. For any farmer who wants to do wheat, the inputs are available.
“Winter season is upon us. Visit our CBZ branches across the country,” CBZ-Agro Yield managing director Walter Chigodora told The Financial Gazette this week.
“Winter planting window is mid-April to the end of May. Let’s make sure the lands are well prepared, let’s make all pre-planting checks; make sure that equipment is working, and service providers Zesa Holdings and Zinwa (Zimbabwe National Water Authority) are paid or a payment plan is in place.”
In 2022, the total area under wheat increased from 66 434 hectares to 80 383 hectares. Private sector contractors accounted for at least 33 percent of total production.
These figures were, according to Agriculture permanent secretary John Basera, the result of a deliberate strategy by the government to crowd in the private sector into agriculture production under both the contract farming framework and the joint venture system.
“The joint venture framework and contract farming framework are critical and are doing really well.
“We have off-takers of agriculture produce investing backwards in supporting primary production (under contract farming),” Basera said recently.
“In 2020, we were involved in the creation of the FCCA (Food Crops Contractors Association), which is a consortium or syndicate of contractors targeting the food production sub-space.
“This winter our (wheat) target is 75 000 hectares and FCCA has done over 25 000 hectares. So, we are crowding in the participation of the private sector through the contract farming framework so that we fully utilise the land.”
The Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) estimates that last year’s winter wheat crop will save the country US$300 million in imports.
“We used to import wheat worth US$300 million per year and that import bill has been very painful to meet.
“However, with the domestication of our wheat production, the multiplier effect is that from that amount that we used to churn out, we are now providing business to local labour, local input suppliers, and others.
“Not only inputs but the mechanisation part of it as well. We are talking about irrigation, and harvesting.
“That has all been domesticated. All that adds to the country’s GDP,” GMAZ national chairman Tafadzwa Musarara told The Financial Gazette recently.
Zimbabwe Economics Society president Nigel Chanakira has also said the wheat success story should serve as an example of what Zimbabwe can achieve in agriculture.
“That to me is quite remarkable and it shows the capacity that we have as Zimbabwean farmers. We have the land. If we have access to finance for the inputs, then it shows what we can do as a people.
“Wheat needs water and power. Where you have water and power you can irrigate on time.
“It means you can be able to deliver a product that is in global demand. So, our objective I think, has been fulfilled in terms of self-sufficiency,” Chanakira said.
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