Lovemore Chikova
Development Dialogue
The 2023 harmonised elections set for August 23 will be fought and won on the developmental front, and those who have shown they are development aligned both in action and speech will triumph.
There are no short-cuts to State House, Parliament or council.
Those who were developmental oriented will be rewarded based on their good works that are being appreciated by the electorate.
Those who specialised in delivering speeches with high sounding nothings, promising the electorate out of this world deliveries will be having themselves to blame come the elections.
This puts President Mnangagwa and Zanu PF ahead of the pack considering the massive developmental work carried out throughout the country during this term.
While President Mnangagwa and his party, Zanu PF, were concentrating on bringing development to all parts of the country, the other presidential candidates and their political parties were far detached from the people.
They were either dead silent or were busy squabbling among themselves as they fought for the few coins dangled by their external handlers.
One cannot, for instance, just announce their candidature on nomination day and hope that the electorate would gravitate towards them, leaving their already preferred candidates.
Or release names of parliamentary and council candidates on nomination day and hope that the voters would suddenly get acquainted with the new faces and their message, that is if they have a message at all.
Zimbabweans demand action in development and President Mnangagwa and Zanu PF have exceeded this expectation in the last five years.
What underlined development was President Mnangagwa’s incisive decision to first tackle issues of food security, for without adequate food, people can hardly participate in developmental issues.
The electorate goes to the polls knowing well that their future has been secured in food security, thanks to the visionary leadership of President Mnangagwa who always focuses on the immediate concerns of the people.
Food is a subject very close to the people, and President Mnangagwa struck the right chord by prioritising that the country becomes food secure first.
He introduced the climate proof Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme that has since contributed largely to the country being food secure.
The programme targeted food security at household level and this has been achieved in the last few years.
Once there is food security at the household level, it means the country is food secure as excess food from the households can complement that from commercial farmers to ensure the whole country has enough food.
Adherence to recommended agronomic Pfumvudza/Intwasa practices has seen many farmers across the country realising higher yields and being able to record a surplus.
The Pfumvudza/Intwasa concept is defined as a climate-proofing farming practice for crop production which emphasises the use of conservation farming.
It has since been proved that the Pfumvudza/Intwasa smallholder farmer achieves a higher yield per hectare compared to the one who uses conventional farming methods.
Speaking at the Zanu PF campaign launch rally in Chipinge last week, President Mnangagwa said Pfumvudza/Intwasa had peformed extremely well.
“We were importing food from other countries,” he said.
“We realised that here in Zimbabwe we have very good soils and rivers with abundant water resources. We asked ourselves what we must do in order to be food self-sufficient.
“That is when we introduced Pfumvudza. Pfumvudza was designed to guarantee food security at the household level. Families that follow what they are taught by agricultural officers, such as Minister Masuka, will be food secure.
“We have resolved the question of food security. We are currently giving free inputs to three million households.
“They include seed, fertilisers and chemicals. We also have large-scale farmers whom we give loans.”
The realisation that the country will never be food insecure should inspire everyone to be proud with President Mnangagwa and Zanu PF come August 23.
The Pfumvudza/Intwasa farming concept is in line with the Second Republic’s thrust of modernising the country’s pivotal agriculture sector through enhancing production and productivity in line with the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy, which seeks to achieve a US$8,2 billion agriculture economy by 2025.
Apart from Pfumvudza/Intwasa, President Mnangagwa spearheaded the transformation of Agribank into an institution specifically targeted at providing funding for agricultural after realising the problems of inadequate agriculture financing that affected production.
This saw the birth of the Agricultural Finance Corporation Holdings (AFC), which includes the new Land and Development Bank, in 2021, replacing Agribank that had been widely viewed as not entirely focused on financing farming.
The new financial institution was tasked with boosting and formalising finance for farmers across the full range, from communal land-holders to large commercial farmers.
It is wholly owned by Government, and comprises four subsidiaries: the AFC Commercial Bank, the AFC Land and Development Bank, AFC Insurance and AFC Leasing Company.
The results have been amazing, as farmers have been accessing adequate finances for their activities each season, increasing production at their farms.
The coming in of AFC bridged the existing financial gaps, ensuring that the local farmers could apply for financing and go back to the field knowing the funding is secured.
Officially opening the financial institution in 2021, President Mnangagwa said: “This transformation will ensure maximum use of resources Zimbabwe is blessed with including fertile land, skilled human capital, abundant water bodies and beautiful fauna and flora, in order to improve livelihoods.
“The establishment of the AFC will therefore expand the provision of agriculture and rural financial services across the entire agriculture value chain, from communal, old resettlement areas, A1, A2 and large scale commercial farmers.”
And the results are already there for everyone to see.
So far this season, farmers have harvested 2,3 million tonnes of maize, guaranteeing a surplus, although harvesting continues as the full crop is gathered in.
Zimbabwe needs around 2,2 million tonnes of maize a year, both for family and consumption of the farmers who grow it and for the rest of the country, which comes out of the grain sold by farmers, almost all to the Grain Marketing Board.
AFC funding played a major role in this season’s bumper harvest, as it targeted to finance over 65 000ha of various crops, including maize, soya beans, sunflower and traditional grains, with the support given to communal farmers, irrigation schemes, A1, A2, contractors and institutional farmers.
The AFC was also actively involved in the financing of the wheat production success story, which saw the country reaching a record harvest last season and is set for another record breaking harvest this season.
The AFC’s mandate also includes supporting the agriculture value chain, agro-processing, irrigation and infrastructure development, mechanisation and capacity building of farmers.
Mechanisation was another area prioritised by President Mnangagwa, as he sought to revitalise the agricultural sector, obtain self-sufficiency in food supplies and boost exports.
The farm mechanisation programme played a key role in tapping underused agricultural potential, especially where access to labour, rather than land, remained a stumbling block for farmers.
President Mnangagwa sourced farming equipment from Belarus under the Belarus Mechanisation Facility.
The deal narrowed the mechanisation gap in the country’s agriculture industry, as the Government moved to fully automate the sector in line with its drive to modernise agriculture and boost production.
Under the deal, President Mnangagwa recently commissioned 1 635 tractors, 16 combine harvesters and other farming equipment as part of the US$66 million Belarus Phase 2 Mechanisation Facility.
The first phase of the facility saw the delivery of 474 tractors, 60 combine harvesters, 210 planters and five low bed trucks to farmers.
The Government entered into mechanisation deals with several other entities across the world, including John Deere, the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment.
Under a US$51 million facility, Zimbabwe was offered 1 300 tractors, 80 combine harvesters and other vital agricultural equipment under a new model for equipment sourcing.
The Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA) was rebranded to focus on rural industrialisation through agriculture.
This saw a lot of irrigation schemes being revived under ARDA, with some communities benefiting directly as shareholders at such establishments.
A rural development programme targeting the drilling of at least 35 000 boreholes is underway and will ensure that each of the 35 000 villages in the country has a solar powered borehole for agricultural purposes.
High impact dams have been completed in various parts of the country, while others are in the process of being constructed, with some like Lake Gwayi-Shangani in Matabeleland North province being almost complete.
All this is being done under various food security interventions such as the Presidential Rural Development Programme, the Presidential Climate-Proofed Input Scheme, the Presidential Cotton Scheme, the Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Scheme, the Presidential Community Fisheries Scheme, the Presidential Poultry Scheme, the Presidential Goat Scheme and the Local Inventions and Innovations. – The Herald
