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Oliver Kazunga recently in Mutare
THE Zimbabwe Agriculture Society (ZAS) has challenged farmers to harness water in order to address hunger in the country. Speaking during the Buy Zimbabwe annual summit that ended here on Friday, ZAS chief executive officer Dr Anxious Masuka said it was not the drought that has caused hunger in the country but lack of commitment to harness water. He said the country receives an average of 600 milli-litres of rainfall a year, which is sufficient to mature two maize crops annually.

“The drought that we have in Zimbabwe isn’t because we don’t have enough rainfall. It’s not the problem of drought but we have a challenge of not harnessing water. Since 1980, Zimbabwe has had enough rainfall to mature two maize crops per year. The maize crop requires an average of 300mm of rainfall per year,” he said.

Dr Masuka said farmers in the country need to go back to the basics if agricultural output is to be increased. He said according to figures from the Agricultural Marketing Authority, Zimbabwe last year produced 742,000 tonnes of maize.

Most parts of the country have this year achieved low yields due to the El Nino induced drought resulting in the country resorting to importing grain from countries such as South Africa, Zambia and Brazil.

The country used to produce about 2,2 million tonnes of maize which is enough for its consumption.

At the moment Zimbabwe’s agriculture industry is saddled with a number of challenges.

“We’ve numerous challenges facing the agriculture industry. For example, according to the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, our cost of production are 30 percent higher than in the region,” said Dr Masuka.

He said the country needs to adapt to climatic change to mitigate the effects of climate change adding that research studies have concluded that Zimbabwe’s yields will go down by about 30 percent by 2030.

Speaking at the meeting, Tanganda Tea Company financial director Mr Henry Nemaire said high taxation system in the country is retrogressive to the agriculture sector and industry at large.

“Zimbabwe’s taxes are at 26 percent yet in other countries in the region, the highest tax doesn’t exceed 13 percent,” he said.