Delegates Call for Economic Empowerment of New Farmers

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 11/04/2004

THERE is need for a concerted programme and efforts to empower new farmers economically and help them source new markets as they enter into the world of commercial farming. Delegates at the Zimbabwe Institute of Management conference held in Victoria Falls last week, deliberated on the theme "transforming the new farmer into a business executive" saying the agricultural sector was of paramount significance to the economic turnaround of the country. It was pointed out that the marketing infrastructure was virtually non-existent for the new farmers, a factor that adversely affected their operations. "We need an authority that looks at the marketing of the products transforming the new farmer into a business executive," one delegate stressed as he also called for the speedy establishment of the Agricultural Marketing Authority. Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development Permanent Secretary, Mr Ngoni Masoka who made a presentation on behalf of the Minister, Dr Joseph Made, said the agriculture sector was facing a number of challenges. These included inconsistent household and national food security, commercialisation of communal, A1 and A2 farmers, farm mechanisation, availability and affordability of inputs and the marketing of produce both on the domestic and world market. To ameliorate the situation, the Government was implementing the crops and livestock input scheme that had a number of objectives. "These objectives include fostering employment creation in the agricultural sector, poverty alleviation and contribution to the growth of the economy," Mr Masoka said. He added that the Government had so far availed $215 billion for wheat, thus facilitating the production on 71 000 hectares this winter season. For the 2004/2005 season, the Government has provided bridging finance to the tune of $600 billion for disbursement to farmers. From this facility, $300 billion was made available to support tobacco production through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). The Government had also put in place programmes to circumvent the labour constraints. "The ministry has put in place a ten-year mechanisation programme which, in addition to acquiring tractors and implements, will also provide for irrigation equipment, grain shellers and dryers, grading machinery and livestock machinery," Mr Masoka said. The delegates also called for the improvement of advisory services to farmers. Mr Masoka said a number of interventions would be made through the relevant departments. These would include commodity and specialist training, skills development, institution capacity building and production and marketing information dissemination. Enditem