The Government has operationalised the US$5 million Smallholder Mechanisation Facility to acquire at least 600 units of agricultural equipment, which is meant to mechanise the Pfumvudza/Intwasa farming model to boost food production and incomes for smallholder farmers.
The Pfumvudza/Intwasa concept involves intensified crop production, which requires farmers to efficiently use resources on a small area of land to optimise yields with minimal soil disturbances.
The mechanical operation tool under this model has commonly been a hand hoe, which is labour-intensive, which has seen the Government pushing for the adoption of modern technology involving engine driven equipment tailor-made to be effective and time saving but with less soil disturbance.
Announcing an array of measures being adopted by the Government in Harare last week, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Dr Anxious Masuka said mechanisation also dovetailed with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), which places particular emphasis on agricultural mechanisation and modernisation.
“We have 2,7 million household units in the country who are still using the plough and hoe. A recent survey by Zimvac (Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee) has shown that half of the households do not own cattle and they struggle with tillage. Hopefully Pfumvudza/Intwasa can assist.
“Mechanisation of Pfumvudza/Intwasa is a must and we are importing two-wheeled tractors that we will give to service providers in villages. In this space, we require at least 35 000 units of two-wheel tractors to be able to mechanise the communal areas so that we can get productivity up,” said Minister Masuka.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development chief director responsible for Agriculture Mechanisation and Soil Conservation Engineer Edwin Zimunga said mechanising Pfumvudza was going to make life easier for smallholder farmers especially the aged and child-headed families who do not have the capacity to do potholing manually.
“We have imported 600 units, each worth US$5 800 for service providers under the Pfumvudza mechanisation programme.
“At least 10 percent of these units have been delivered and are ready for use this year. The results on Pfumvudza production speak for themselves. Thus in terms of impact for the 2022/23 season we expect even greater and much better results,” said Eng Zimunga.
He said smallholder farmers faced tillage challenges due to losses of livestock to January Disease and other related diseases.
Eng Zimunga said: “We are setting up service centres within the farming communities, that is, at the closest Government offices, business centres and other central points for accessibility by farmers.
“The selected service providers have been trained and capacitated to run the year-round business of mechanisation service provision to farming communities in selected areas in the provinces and will be paid through revenue generated by providing service to farmers.”
The Ministry, he said, is rolling out the programme through established alliances with key partners to have a sustainable initiative to provide farm mechanisation equipment sets (starter packs) through a loan facility administered by banks to service providers.
The starter packs comprise a two-wheeled tractor (16 horsepower), a double-row planter, a multi-crop sheller and a trailer (1, 5 tonne). Farmers can access these implements by paying a minimal amount cheaper than that wanted by private service providers.
Mechanising the agriculture sector is crucial to enable it to perform effectively and set the economy on a positive growth and recovery path through the realisation of potential gross domestic product (GDP) of 33 percent from its current 20 percent GDP contribution, as the Government pushes for the attainment of food self-sufficiency. – The Herald
