Treasury has budgeted $20 million to further finance a
heifer scheme under Command Agriculture this year as Government moves in to
boost livestock production and beef up the national herd.
Delivering a lecture on the Progress and Challenges of the
Command Agriculture initiative to the Joint Command Staff Course No. 33 at
Zimbabwe Staff College, Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement
Minister Perrance Shiri said Command Agriculture was introduced as a maize
input scheme in the 2016-17 cropping season to boost food production following two
consecutive seasons of high food imports.
The programme has since been expanded to include soyabeans,
wheat, livestock, wildlife and fisheries production.
Minister Shiri yesterday said since its inception, Command
Agriculture had managed to boost productivity across the broad spectrum of
value chains.
He said the Command Livestock programme had succeeded in
distributing 3 539 heifers to 908 farmers in eight rural provinces.
In Matabeleland South, 308 farmers received a collective 1
032 heifers, Matabeleland South 437 farmers got 1 753 heifers, Midlands saw 38
farmers receiving 276 heifers.
In Masvingo, 30 livestock farmers received 109, 25 from
Manicaland received 81, while 55 from Mashonaland East received 207.
Four farmers from Mashonaland Central received 21 heifers
and 12 farmers from Mashonaland West got 60 heifers.
Minister Shiri expressed concern over the deaths of cattle
from tick-borne diseases and urged farmers to take full responsibility for
their livestock.
“The primary responsibility for the caring of cattle lies
with the owners.
“We give so much weight to money and trivialise the value
of cattle because we have been used to keeping cattle. We do not attach value
to livestock. We only use the cattle as draught power or slaughter for ritual
purposes.
“There is need to change the mindset of people so they can
derive maximum value from their livestock,” he said.
On Command Poultry, the Minister said 640 000 chicks were
distributed and success was recorded in the increase in the processing plants.
Under the poultry programme, 186 farmers benefited from the
programme which was giving out a minimum of 500 chicks and a maximum of 5 000
chicks per individual.
The programme started with one single processing plant —
Kudu Creek — but has since expanded to four.
“The programme has since engaged three more abattoirs —
Farmer Jay Abattoir in Arcturus, Slaughter Land Abattoir which is on the
outskirts of Harare near the Shamwa turn- off and Chicken Abattoir situated in
Southerton area, Harare
“The Command Poultry programme managed to empower several
farmers as they were making good profits. However, the programme was affected
by shortage of chicks on the market and unavailability of poultry processing
points outside urban centres,” he said.
The minister also spoke of irrigation development
achievements which focused on installing modern irrigation equipment that is
effective in light of the climate change in Zimbabwe and the world and ensuring
environmental sustainability.
“The focus of this programme is to install modern
irrigation equipment that is water efficient in light of the effects of climate
change and ensuring environmental preservation,” he said.
Success in Command Agriculture has also been registered in
an increase in maize production from 575 582 tonnes in 2015/2016 to 2 443 119
tonnes in the 2016/17 season.
In the 2017/18 production season, despite erratic rainfall
patterns maize production was estimated at 1 836 145 tonnes.
During the 2018/19 season, Command Agriculture delivered
245 523 tonnes of maize to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
Thanks to Command Agriculture, the area under wheat
production doubled from about 15 000 hectares in 2016 to about 38 000 hectares
in 2017.
In 2017, winter wheat deliveries to the GMB totalled 185
720 tonnes of which 145 484 tonnes were from Command Agriculture.
For the 2018, winter wheat season, cumulative deliveries
were 143 718 696 tonnes. It is important to note that Command Agriculture has
been at the core of wheat production to ensure supplies of affordable flour to
bakeries.
Soyabean production has also increased from the 21 617
hectares during the 2017/18 season with Command Agriculture accounting for 7
887 tonnes.
During the 2018/29 season the bulk of the soyabeans
delivered to the GMB was from command Agriculture.
Command Agriculture has, however, been affected by adverse
climatic conditions, inadequate tillage services, erratic power supply, funding
constraints although Government was working with the private sector to come up
with sustainable solutions. Herald
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