The Sunday Mail
Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE’S maize harvest for the 2020/2021 cropping season is set to be the highest in the past 37 years at 2,8 million tonnes, a development that is likely to underpin Government’s plan to leverage on agriculture, among other key sectors, to boost economic growth.
President Mnangagwa announced on Twitter on Tuesday that the forecast grain output – “a record harvest post-land reform” – indicates “our country is on the path to prosperity”.
“In 2019/2020, Zimbabwe had a maize harvest of 908 000 tonnes . . . Zimbabweans, don’t let the doubters dampen your spirit,” he said.
At 2,8 million tonnes, the projected production would be 200 percent more than last year.
It is a remarkable turnaround made possible by abundant rains and timeous preparations, which saw more than two million households – against a targeted 1,8 million – from the country’s eight rural provinces benefitting from the Presidential Input Support Scheme.
Inputs were, however, extended to farmers who had undergone training in the conservative and climate-proofed method of Pfumvudza/Intwasa.
This year, 1,8 million hectares of land were put under maize, compared to 1,5 million hectares a year earlier, representing a 17 percent increase.
Since 1960, the highest-ever maize output was the 2,95 million tonnes realised in 1984.
Output after the land reform programme at the turn of the millennium failed to increase beyond 2,2 million tonnes (2,1 million tonnes in 2000 and 2,15 million tonnes in 2017).
The country’s annual maize demand stands at 2,2 million.
The new political administration has been doubling down on investments in agriculture, which is the backbone of the economy, to not only ensure both household and national food security but to grow the economy as well.
In 2020, the country managed to produce wheat that is sufficient to cover nine-months’ supply.
Zimbabwe expects the economy to grow by 7,4 percent this year driven by a successful agricultural season, recovering commodity prices expected to buoy the mining sector, and increasing industrial production and exports.
