Govt earmarks ZiG22bn to support farmers

The Government, in partnership with the private sector, is set to mobilise ZiG22 billion (US$1,6 billion) to support crop production and ensure food security at the household and national level.

This is in line with preparations for the 2024/25 summer cropping programme, in which the La-Nina phenomenon normally associated with normal to above-normal rainfall is projected for the 2024/25 rainfall season.

Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, in the 2024 Mid-Term Budget, said the funding would support the production of cereals, oil seeds and pulses, targeting an output of 4,5 million tonnes.

“The private sector is expected to mobilise US$960 million, while the Government will mobilise US$640 million to finance the Presidential Input Scheme as well as guaranteed agriculture schemes under ARDA, AFC and CBZ facilities,” he said.

Minister Ncube said the Government, together with development partners, is targeting to support 1,8 million vulnerable households with agriculture inputs for the production of cereal, cotton, oil seeds and pulses, as well as livestock.

A total of 90 000 hectares is earmarked for the irrigated maize crop with the participation of farmers under joint venture schemes managed by ARDA, private sector contract farming and self-financed farmers.

“To drive sustainable transformation of the sector, the Government will deepen agricultural production and marketing reforms in order to increase investment and crowd in the private sector,” said the Finance Minister.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) director, Mr Paul Zacharia, said in an interview that financing required in agriculture comes in three different forms.

He said the first one was the working capital, which covers a period of 12 to 24 months, medium-term financing, which covers five to 10 years and is needed for things like tractors, implements and irrigation equipment, and long-term financing, which finances infrastructure to anchor production activities.

“You need dams on the farm, to open up new fields, irrigation infrastructure, roads, packing and sorting facilities, and all that needs finance.

“All that is funding that goes beyond 15 to 20 years. So, when we are talking about financing agriculture, we are not just talking about seeds, but we are talking even about deeper things.

“Therefore, if what the Finance Minister is saying comes through in those three forms, farmers will become more solid,” he said.

Mr Zacharia said preparations for the upcoming season are ongoing and when the rains come, every farmer knows he needs to make sure that he is prepared.

“So, the extent of one being prepared is also limited to the resources that one has. If you have enough to do 50 acres, you plan your 50 acres; if you have enough or more, you do that, but that is tied to the initial financing,” he said.

Mr Zacharia noted that at the moment banks do not have the right type of funding for agriculture except facilities to support short-term agriculture to cover costs such as seed and fertiliser while at times this excludes labour.

He said available contract funding arrangements were largely focused on inputs.

“The farmer ends up looking around for finances to do other things like maintenance or equipment hiring, and this is why we see that sometimes production gets depressed,” said Mr Zacharia.

On irrigation development, Minister Ncube said climate-proofing agriculture and ensuring food security at the household and national level was a commitment by the Government that ensured all-year-round cropping irrespective of the rainfall patterns of the season, leveraging the transformational support programmes from the state and the private sector.

He said through the National Accelerated Irrigation Rehabilitation and Development Programme, the Government sought to ensure that the country’s irrigation potential was fully exploited through rehabilitation and development to meet the national target of increasing functional irrigable land to 496 000 hectares by 2025.

“In support of the above interventions, a total of ZiG19,6 million was expended towards irrigation development during the first six months of the year, with a target to achieve 6 864 hectares by December 2024,” said Minister Ncube in the mid-term review statement.

He noted that going forward, the Government would seize the opportunities offered by the Irrigation Development Alliance, a risk-sharing framework among the state, farmers, private sector and banks, to crowd in additional funding to develop a viable and sustainable irrigation ecosystem that builds resilience and increases agricultural production and productivity.-herald