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Minister Joseph Made

Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
THE Government is set to introduce the growing of rice among a variety of other new crops which have previously not been funded under various agricultural schemes.

Speaking during the 2017 Annual National Chiefs Conference at the Bulawayo Large City Hall yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Dr Joseph Made, said the latest move would help in saving foreign currency used to import rice from other countries.

“Our people have always grown rice but of course not on a commercial scale. As Government we are looking at introducing new varieties of rice among other crops. Rice has become one of the critical grains used in every household in the country and its consumption has increased and we are also spending a lot of foreign currency in importing the grain. There is a need for the country to start growing the crop on a commercial scale,” he said.

“It requires a lot of water and fertiliser and we will also take that into consideration.”

Dr Made said areas like Masvingo`s Lowveld are suitable for the production of rice on a big scale using water from Tokwe Mukorsi and Manyuchi Dams.

The other crops that would be introduced include indigenous fruit trees.

“We are also looking at introducing more crops among them indigenous fruit trees and the commercial value of the fruit is being worked out,” he said.

Dr Made said the country recorded a successful 2016/17 farming season, which he attributed to the support from households under the Presidential Well Wishers Support Input Scheme and Command Agriculture.

Government has directed the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) to immediately activate satellite collection points to mop up the remaining grain as the Strategic Grain Reserve has hit 1,1 million tonnes.

GMB has further been directed to work round the clock to facilitate speedy payment of farmers. This comes as Government has already started dispatching inputs to GMB depots across the country for the 2017/18 farming season.

Early this year, the Government released $2,5 million for the repair of silos countrywide.

Dr Made said as part of preparation for the 2017/18 farming season, the Government has started moving a substantial amount of inputs to the GMB for distribution. The bulk of the inputs is under the Presidential Well Wishers Support Input Scheme.

“The distribution of the inputs for the Presidential Well Wishers Agriculture Inputs Scheme has already started across the country. Each farmer should receive the inputs on his own behalf because we have already calculated that there are 1,8 million households. The distribution will be done on a first-come-first-serve basis,” said Dr Made.

Three months ago, Dr Made announced during a Zanu-PF meeting in Bulawayo that the Government was going to use the GMB in the city as a transitional depot for purposes of exporting surplus maize. The GMB in Bulawayo has the biggest silos in this part of the country.

Dr Made said following the success of the Command Agriculture programme, the Government introduced similar schemes in the livestock, wildlife and fishery sectors.

The minister commended the Presidential Support Input and Command Agriculture programmes, saying the two schemes have created jobs for youths in the country.

President Mugabe has hailed Zimbabweans for heeding the call to participate in the hugely successful Command Agriculture Scheme.

The Minister said the Government intends to increase the number of programmes that will fall under the President Input Scheme, Cotton Input Scheme as well as Command Agriculture.

At least 400 000 households have been earmarked for the cotton programme under the Presidential Inputs Scheme. The Cotton Company of Zimbabwe is expected to play a leading role in the implementation of the programme. — @mashnets