THE upheaval and disruption attendant to the epochal repossession of land for distribution to its rightful owners at the turn of the millennium, inevitably led to the marked decline in agricultural output.
At a time of heightened hostilities between Harare and London, the Western press spun the narrative by speciously attributing the drop in production to what it termed a “chaotic” land redistribution exercise.
But most insidiously, there was even a more sinister interpretation that black farmers are inherently incapable and ill-suited to the practice of viable and commercial agriculture.
How things have changed!
The remarkable milestones achieved in the sector, especially in the past five years, have begun to roll back and expose the long-standing racist narrative.
Confirmation of the expected record wheat harvest of 600 000 tonnes by President Mnangagwa in his State of the Nation Address last week, opens a lot of opportunities for local business and should help see a growing variety in the diet of many Zimbabweans.
The traditional requirement before we achieved self-sufficiency in the harvest brought in during early summer in 2022 was around 360 000 tonnes a year.
From the time we started growing wheat commercially in 1966 to that harvest, what was grown in the country had to be topped up with imports.
That first harvest of self-sufficiency, and once again proving that land reform would increase harvests, was 375 000 tonnes.
The pressure to continue increasing production saw a harvest of 467 905 tonnes last year, a significant surplus that built reserves and allowed agro-industrialists to start thinking about new products and import substitution.
Continued imports, made worse by the fact that Zimbabwe is a landlocked country which naturally incurs huge costs associated with shipping, among others, exerted huge pressure on the country’s limited foreign currency reserves.
Zimbabwe grows the standard soft wheat and imports included some hard wheats and durum wheats to add to bread flours, as well as pasta flours.
Wheat farmers have, however, been getting better, helping to increase both production and productivity.
And the results have been hard to ignore.
Last year, only Zimbabwe and Ethiopia were wheat self-sufficient on the continent.
With increased production, self-sufficiency and guaranteed supplies, notwithstanding developments in other parts of the world, has come rising farmer and household incomes.
What has been unique about Zimbabwe’s latest agricultural revolution has been the mainstreaming of smallholder irrigation schemes and farming communities.
The Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme is a case in point.
So, essentially, this feeds into the Government’s thrust to lift communities out of poverty while, at the same time, driving local economic growth.
Yes, exports must be encouraged, but we should be exporting manufactured goods like flours, pastas and biscuits, rather than raw grain.
In any case, the industrialisation strategy in Zimbabwe entails processing our raw materials before shipping them.
This is absolutely essential if we are to compete.
More importantly, there are also opportunities opening up for wheat products in Zimbabwe, especially now that manufacturers, bakers and others no longer have the onerous burden to always raise foreign currency to import wheat.
Walking through local supermarket aisles indicates that pastas are already popular items.
At present, most of what is sold are macaroni and spaghetti, but a bit of innovation and marketing could see a far wider selection of standard pasta varieties on sale.
Overall, wheat is the staple diet for many in North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, northern India and northern China, among others.
Further, here in Zimbabwe, this year’s impressive wheat haul will provide the buffer stocks likely to boost local food security.
With the severe drought this year, and the sharp reduction in maize harvests, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has already indicated that wheat and wheat flours will be available as a substitute for maize and maize flours.
As a country, we have done exceptionally well under extraordinary circumstances and should not only trumpet but also tap into this success story for inspiration to do even better.
It should be appreciated that the primary objective of the Land Reform Programme was not to be successful farmers but to reunite the land with its people.
However, the remarkable performance of the agriculture sector shows that we are equally more than capable farmers.
Land reform success should be trumpeted
THE upheaval and disruption attendant to the epochal repossession of land for distribution to its rightful owners at the turn of the millennium, inevitably led to the marked decline in agricultural output.
At a time of heightened hostilities between Harare and London, the Western press spun the narrative by speciously attributing the drop in production to what it termed a “chaotic” land redistribution exercise.
But most insidiously, there was even a more sinister interpretation that black farmers are inherently incapable and ill-suited to the practice of viable and commercial agriculture.
How things have changed!
The remarkable milestones achieved in the sector, especially in the past five years, have begun to roll back and expose the long-standing racist narrative.
Confirmation of the expected record wheat harvest of 600 000 tonnes by President Mnangagwa in his State of the Nation Address last week, opens a lot of opportunities for local business and should help see a growing variety in the diet of many Zimbabweans.
The traditional requirement before we achieved self-sufficiency in the harvest brought in during early summer in 2022 was around 360 000 tonnes a year.
From the time we started growing wheat commercially in 1966 to that harvest, what was grown in the country had to be topped up with imports.
That first harvest of self-sufficiency, and once again proving that land reform would increase harvests, was 375 000 tonnes.
The pressure to continue increasing production saw a harvest of 467 905 tonnes last year, a significant surplus that built reserves and allowed agro-industrialists to start thinking about new products and import substitution.
Continued imports, made worse by the fact that Zimbabwe is a landlocked country which naturally incurs huge costs associated with shipping, among others, exerted huge pressure on the country’s limited foreign currency reserves.
Zimbabwe grows the standard soft wheat and imports included some hard wheats and durum wheats to add to bread flours, as well as pasta flours.
Wheat farmers have, however, been getting better, helping to increase both production and productivity.
And the results have been hard to ignore.
Last year, only Zimbabwe and Ethiopia were wheat self-sufficient on the continent.
With increased production, self-sufficiency and guaranteed supplies, notwithstanding developments in other parts of the world, has come rising farmer and household incomes.
What has been unique about Zimbabwe’s latest agricultural revolution has been the mainstreaming of smallholder irrigation schemes and farming communities.
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The Bubi-Lupane Irrigation Scheme is a case in point.
So, essentially, this feeds into the Government’s thrust to lift communities out of poverty while, at the same time, driving local economic growth.
Yes, exports must be encouraged, but we should be exporting manufactured goods like flours, pastas and biscuits, rather than raw grain.
In any case, the industrialisation strategy in Zimbabwe entails processing our raw materials before shipping them.
This is absolutely essential if we are to compete.
More importantly, there are also opportunities opening up for wheat products in Zimbabwe, especially now that manufacturers, bakers and others no longer have the onerous burden to always raise foreign currency to import wheat.
Walking through local supermarket aisles indicates that pastas are already popular items.
At present, most of what is sold are macaroni and spaghetti, but a bit of innovation and marketing could see a far wider selection of standard pasta varieties on sale.
Overall, wheat is the staple diet for many in North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, northern India and northern China, among others.
Further, here in Zimbabwe, this year’s impressive wheat haul will provide the buffer stocks likely to boost local food security.
With the severe drought this year, and the sharp reduction in maize harvests, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has already indicated that wheat and wheat flours will be available as a substitute for maize and maize flours.
As a country, we have done exceptionally well under extraordinary circumstances and should not only trumpet but also tap into this success story for inspiration to do even better.
It should be appreciated that the primary objective of the Land Reform Programme was not to be successful farmers but to reunite the land with its people.
However, the remarkable performance of the agriculture sector shows that we are equally more than capable farmers.
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