By Lawrence Paganga
The Zimbabwe government has allocated US$343 million to the Ministry of Agriculture for its 2022 operational budget.
Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube announced this in the 2022 national budget speech he presented in Parliament, Harare on Thursday.
The Agriculture Ministry received the largest allocation than other line ministries.
According to Minister Ncube, the budget for the ministry would be targeted for the following interventions; grain production, horticulture, business advisory, and extension services, agriculture research, animal disease prevention and control, agricultural engineering and mechanisation, water and sanitation, irrigation development; and rural development.
“The 2020/2021 agriculture season output was remarkable, benefiting from good rains and timely preparedness, especially in terms of financing and the provision of inputs,” Minister Ncube said.
“Government, in conjunction with development partners supported vulnerable household farmers with agricultural inputs, while the banking sector provided loan financing to commercial farmers. These support initiatives were complemented by contract farming arrangements and own farmer resources. Resultantly, the country witnessed a bumper harvest of over 3 million tonnes of grain, to give an overall growth of the sector at 36.2% in 202.”
The minister said in 2022, the agriculture sector was expected to grow by 5.1%.
“In 2022, the sector is projected to grow by a modest 5.1% attributable to expected favourable rainfall season and implementation of Government support programmes. The livestock subsector is also expected to remain buoyant in support of this growth, on the back of good pastures and water availability,” he said.
Minister Ncube added: “The thrust under the 2022 National Budget is to surpass the 2021 production levels through implementation of the key tenets of the Agriculture Recovery Plan (2020-23).
“Based on the current agriculture financing model, Government will finance the Agriculture Productive Social Protection Scheme for crops and livestock (which targets vulnerable households) while banks will fund commercial farming activities, through the National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme (NEAPS), with the government only providing guarantees on a risk-sharing basis.”
