The Sunday Mail
Government is fine-tuning the Specialised Maize Production and Import Substitution Programme, or Command Agriculture, to unlock its optimum potential, President Mugabe has said.
At the sixth Presidential Youth Interface in Gwanda yesterday, the President said the programme had been highly successful.
He said, “Thank God for giving us abundant rain, which covered nearly all parts of our country. Kwakanaya mvura yakakomba, including this province, normally our dry province (Matabeleland South).
“Vanhu vakarima. We are happy. Mombe dzakanga dzaakufa, dzimwe dzakanga dzafa kare. Zvipfuyo zvedu, zvomumatondo zvakararama. Even our birds, as they fly, were happy.
“Now, tinoda kuti titaure nemaprogrammes edu. We agreed in Government that we should now change our system of agriculture, or perhaps not change, but add to the old system, a new programme.
“Makanzwa vanhu vachitaura neCommand yeagricultural system. We said to ourselves, tapihwa mazano anga abva kunaFirst Lady vataurirana naVice-President Mnangagwa, system yacho.”
He continued: “Ndozvatakaita last season; zvokuti vose vari pedyo nemvura, madams — big or small — let them be brought into this system, vapihwe mainputs: seed, fertiliser, machemicals, equipment. Varimirwe.
“Tinotenda makabvuma. Tinotendawo mayouths edu makabatsira zvikurukuru, and the results are (there) for everyone to see.
‘‘Takanga taakunzi zviye zviye zvekunzi ndisu tine the so-called basket yekufidha Africa yose zvaparara. Mazvionaka? Makatanda varungu. Ndakanzwa Tsvangirai achiti, ‘Munotora mapurazi evarungu. Muchafa nenzara.’”
President Mugabe said land was the basis of the First and Second Chimurenga.
“Takatoraka, takatora, first and foremost, because the land is ours. The farms were ours in terms of them being part of the land we had fought, suffered and died for.
“Ndinoti expect again a repeat, asi tinoda kuigadziridza apa nepapa. But it was not the only programme yaivepo. There was also the Presidential Well-Wishers Agricultural Inputs Scheme yenzvimbo dzeavo vakanga vasina mvura pedyo, but who expect to carry out their agriculture, depending on the rainfall.
“Nemvura yakanayawo yekudenga (last season), and it helped even those who did not have dam water next to them. We are still harvesting maize; chatisina kufunga was the storage aspect of the maize as it is yielded. Matura azara, masilos azara and taakumhanya mhanya, trying to do what we can to preserve the harvest.
“But ndofara the majority of you supported (the programme). Mazvionaka? That’s what the party can achieve when we work together.”
