By Lawrence Paganga
The Zimbabwe government is expected to give nearly 2.3 million households with free agriculture inputs in the 2021/2022 summer season, an increase of nearly 200% from the 2020/2021 season.
This was confirmed by the Agriculture Ministry secretary John Basera in his presentation of national and household food and nutrition security at the annual agribusiness conference held on the sidelines of the Harare Agricultural Show.
Basera said the government wanted to consolidate “yester-season success through the speedy implementation of agriculture transformation blueprint.
“Agriculture becomes the prime mover and driver to move our national vision 2030 that includes climate proofing agriculture pfumvudza/intwasa programme,” he said.
“We are targeting 2.3 million households. Households are expected to adopt conservation principles of minimum soil disturbances (hoiling out), using mulch to conserve moisture, timeliness, (of operations), adoption of good agronomic practices and more on less principle.
Each household will receive a vegetable pack consisting vegetable seed, cabbage, onion, tomato and carrots for nutrition gardens.
In the last summer farming season the government availed agriculture which include seed, fertiliser and fuel to 907 629 farmers in rural areas through its pfumvudza/intwasa programme.
Targeted crops under the scheme are; maize, sorghum, millet, groundnuts, round nuts, sweet potato, sugar beans, and African peas.
Zimbabwe has reported a bumper harvest of maize and other grains, capable of feeding the country’s 14.65 million citizens in 2022.
According to Zimbabwe’s second crop and livestock assessment report, the estimated maize production for 2021 stands at 2.7 million tonnes.
