The Sunday Mail
Hebert Zharare
Assistant Business Editor
While spelling out the new economic order, Government made it clear the agriculture sector will be the mainstay of the economy under which all other future developments will be underpinned.
Indeed with timely support, the sector will not disappoint as the country in the 2016-17 farming season is expecting to produce over two million tonnes of grain, the first time in decades to reach such impressive yields.
The Command Agriculture programme for 2016-17 targeting maize production, indeed, saw the demand for farming inputs such as fertilisers surging to over 400 000 tonnes, reminiscent of the era when the country was enjoying the region’s breadbasket status.
But for the agriculture sector to sustainably anchor the country’s national economic development trajectory, there is a greater need for it to be backed by vibrant irrigation facilities supported by a well thought out national strategy.
For farmers to contribute significantly to economic development, there must be creation of strong value chain systems anchored on producing more food and cash crops, as well as establishing strong local and foreign market for the produce.
It is only when farmers are supported by a robust irrigation infrastructure and are able to produce high quality crops that we can talk of export strategy and meaningful contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.
The country has vast swathes of water bodies, some of which by the onset of a new rain season will still be over 80 percent full with the resource being underutilized.
It is against this backdrop that after a hugely successful land reform programme, there must be an irrigation policy that caters for specialised requirements of small and large-scale indigenous farmers for them to produce round the clock to ensure national food security and surplus for the export market.
Zimbabwe, unlike many countries in the region, has one of the best climates and soils that allow for sustainable growing of a wide rane of crops, making it a major investment destination for agro-based firms and those undertaking crop and animal husbandry research.
Most of the dams were constructed by white former commercial farmers in areas they felt deserved to be supported by irrigation facilities, but following the land reform programme, there is a need for Government to build more water reservoirs to benefit new farmers resettled in dry areas.
Agriculture economist Mr Midway Bhunu concurred rain-fed agriculture was increasingly becoming unreliable given the vagaries of recurrent droughts.
He said President Emmerson Mnangagwa was spot on because the sector during its zenith supported industries through forward and backward linkages, created employment and attracted massive foreign direct investment.
To this regard, he argued the country cannot talk of meaningful agriculture contribution to the economy without implementing the country’s agriculture strategies that are already in place.
“There is a need for strategic partnership between Government, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and farmers themselves as far as developing viable irrigation is concerned. The structures are there and what is needed is to operationalise the ideas. We have a lot of water bodies and massive potential.
“Following the land reform programme, there were thousands of small holder farmers that got land and there was no a deliberate plan to follow-up with some irrigation schemes that suit this new crop of farmers,” he said.
To that effect, he said, there was a need to train farmers on the management of existing irrigation facilities as old ones are being rehabilitated while new ones are being constructed.
Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union chief economist Mr Prince Kuipa said the development of irrigation was capital intensive, making it imperative for all key stakeholders to play ball if Zimbabwe is to stop being an importer of food.
“The development of irrigation is capital intensive and the $5 billion budget Government announced is not enough to develop irrigation for the country. This therefore calls for banks, the private sector and farmers themselves to develop the infrastructure. It therefore brings the issue of security of tenure into play.
“If the farmer is going to be on the land for 99 years and that lease becomes bankable, he or she can develop such property on the farm. Water is not only needed for crops but for livestock too. If you look at our erstwhile white former farmers, they were funded by banks. We need to look at the land tenure system so that farmers can borrow against their farms,” he said.
When farmers are assured of uninterrupted farming, then other key infrastructure like driers and silos will follow.
