Government targets exceeding national food requirements 10 percent

THE Government has announced that in preparation for the 2024/25 summer season, following a challenging 2023/24 season impacted by an El Nino-induced drought, the summer plan is focused on sustainably boosting crop production and productivity.

The goal is to exceed national food and feed requirements by at least 10 percent. The objectives include raising cereal production to 3 274 200 metric tonnes, up from 744 271 metric tonnes last season, marking a 340 percent increase.

Overall production volumes of major crops are expected to increase by 347 percent from 914 848mt to 4 093 700mt in the 2024/2025 season.

Addressing delegates at the one-day conference held under the theme “Ensuring food, feed and oilseed security” last week, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Professor Obert Jiri, said Zimbabwe’s food security strategy to feed the six million of 9,2 million people in rural areas deemed vulnerable to March 2025, is based on four components.

The components include stock held by individuals, private sector and Government, the meagre El Nino-induced drought harvest gleanings, imports by Government and the private sector and winter cereal production.

“With a promise of an increasing likelihood of La-Nina season, the 2024/25 summer plan aims to sustainably increase crop production and productivity to surpass the national requirements for food and feed, by at least 10 percent,” said Prof Jiri.

He said the 2024/2025 Summer Plan is based on the strategies and measures for drought mitigation and resilience building approved by Cabinet on May 27 2024.

The Summer Plan is the implementing mechanism for the strategies and measures for mitigation and resilience building, he noted.

He said the major programs under Crop Production for the 2024/25 Season include Government funded Pfumvudza/ Intwasa Programme supporting 3,5 million farmers, Arda (Joint Ventures, Estates and Schemes), National Enhanced Productivity Scheme (Neaps) a Government backed guarantee scheme by AFC, CBZ, NBD and other local banks.

Prof Jiri said under the summer programs, a total of three million hectares is targeted for crop production in the 2024/25 Summer Season.

“The Climate Proofed Presidential Input Programme will target 3,5 million beneficiaries from communal, A1, small-scale commercial farming, old resettlement and 500 000 peri-rural households for cereals, oilseeds and legumes,” he told delegates.

He noted that as approved by Cabinet in 2023, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda) was designated the food, feed, seed and oils security agent for the nation, with an initial target to produce 500 000 metric tonnes of summer cereals from 100 000 hectares and 300 000 metric tonnes of winter cereals from 60 000 hectares irrigable area, increasing crop production to at least 45 percent of the annual requirement (plus 10 percent).

The ultimate plan, he said is to produce at least 1,089 million metric tonnes of the summer and winter cereals by 2026 from Arda.

The private sector is required by policy to ensure that at least 40 percent of the annual raw material requirements are met from value chain financing of production by farmers.

Turning to livestock, the summer plan seeks to re-build the national beef herd from the likely negative impact of panic destocking, water depletion and pasture and disease induced mortality.

This, he said, will be achieved through increased infusion of better genetics by artificial insemination, rehabilitation of 1 000 dip tanks to bring functional dip tanks to 4 183, enhancing pasture production and reducing the disease burden as well as cattle mortality to six percent.

The success of the summer plan will be anchored by key enablers such as finance, irrigation, water, mechanisation, input availability, power and farmer payment.

“The success of the summer cropping is partially dependent on uninterrupted supply of electricity for irrigation. The Ministries of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development and Ministry of Energy and Power development have an agriculture energy task force to co-ordinate strategies to ensure electricity provision is adequate.

“The banks will be encouraged to treat electricity as an input and pre-pay part of the estimated bill on behalf of the farmer as they do for seed and fertiliser,” he told delegates pledging that the ministry will continue to provide an enabling environment for sustainable production and marketing of summer crops.-chroncile