Agric ministry, ZESA strike deal

TANATSWA KANDENGA/TENDAIISHE NYAMUKUNDA.

The Ministry of Land,Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development has struck a deal with  power utility ZESA to ring fence  wheat farmers  in order to  shield  the growers from loadshedding, it has been learnt.

This was revealed by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Land,Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development , Professor Obert Jiri.

In order to lessen the consequences of load shedding, wheat producers are advised to register with the government, ZESA, and wheat production clusters.

“ZESA is ring fencing the power for the wheat farmers .We urged wheat farmers to register with us and ZESA so that the meter numbers are the one that the  power utility uses to locate a farmer in a cluster in order to be able to be ring fenced. Currently it is working well,” Professor Jiri said.

The Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Dr Shadrek Makombe weighed in saying:”Farmers are in clusters and ZESA is ring fencing those farmers meaning at any one time all the effort is being made to make sure these wheat farmers have got electricity.

Of course there are challenges here and there but in some areas the turnaround like attending faults has improved,” Dr Makombe said.

Graeme Murdoch ,the chairperson for Food Crop Contractors Association (FCCA) concurred saying:” ZESA  is ring fencing wheat farmers this year to ensure uninterrupted power.

According to Edward Dune,the vice president of the Tobacco Farmers Union Trust, continued power cuts has been a serious challenge to winter wheat farmers  resulting in them resorting to  expensive diesel powered generators .

“Continued load shedding has become a perennial challenge in winter wheat production resulting in increased costs as farmers resort to use of diesel powered generators,”  Dune said .