Zimbabwe: Ama Set to Bounce Back - Gumbo

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 28 September 2007 09/29/2007

GOVERNMENT is set to re-establish the Agricultural Marketing Authority once the exercise to put in place various parastatal boards has been completed, a Cabinet minister has said. In a speech read on his behalf at the 13th annual congress of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union in Mutare recently, Agriculture Minister Mr Rugare Gumbo said as soon as candidates for the boards of five other parastatals were appointed, AMA would bounce back. The parastatals are Agribank, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, Tobacco Research Board, the Pig Industry Board and the Agricultural Research Council. Over the past few months and in measures intended to revive the performance of parastatals, Government has appoint-ed boards for the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority led by Dr Tobias Takavarasha, the Grain Marketing Board headed by Mr Charles Chikaura and the Cold Storage Company under the leadership of Professor Lindela Ndlovu. Chief among Government's expectations from these parastatals, Mr Gumbo said, would be the ability to perform orderly marketing and distribution of commodities and agricultural inputs, production of strategic commodities, carrying out appropriate agricultural research and thorough operational planning to effectively service farmers. "I have instructed the parastatals to work with the farmers and other community structures in order for them to be effective in reaching out to all farmers at the village and farm level. Let me appeal to the nation to be patient and encouraging as our parastatals go through their processes of rebirth and turn-around," he said. Mr Gumbo said as part of his ministry's current policy thrust of massive production of all agricultural commodities, strategic focus would be put on the cropping of both food and cash crops, livestock, pigs, horticulture (flowers and vegetables) and plantation crops such as tea, sugarcane, coffee and jatropha. "In support of this position the Ministry of Agriculture will ensure that farmers in the different agro-ecological regions find it profitable and viable to produce suitable varieties of crops for each locality. The prices of all commodities will therefore be on the premise of at least cost plus margin basis." Enditem