TENDAIISHE NYAMUKUNDA
Farmers have commended the government for developing the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation strategy, which aims to help the agriculture sector deal with the detrimental effects of climate change, Business Times can report.
By strengthening resilience and recuperation from climate shocks, this plan seeks to guarantee the country’s sustained food security.
“We commend the government for this step since it advances the achievement of all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and encourages initiatives aimed at overcoming obstacles and creating healthier, more sustainable, and inclusive food systems,” the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Dr Shadreck Makombe told Business Times this week.
He added: “As a result there are many mitigating and complimentary factors and initiatives being carried out, for example, climate intervention methods to deal with climate change, like growing of traditional crops and other short seasoned seed varieties.”
Additionally, Makombe stated that Zimbabwe needs to develop its programmes to guarantee food security because of the geopolitical circumstances in the traditional food-growing regions.
“The geopolitical situation in the traditional food growing areas is a wake up call for Zimbabwe to come up with its programmes for food security, a case in point being Pfumvudza.”
Edward Dune, vice president of the Tobacco Farmers Union Trust, weighed in saying the government’s goals for the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation strategy seem admirable on paper.
However, he claimed that because of geopolitical concerns, they are experiencing monetary and budgetary obstacles that are challenging to resolve.
“Indeed the government objectives as regards to the Agriculture and Food systems transformation strategy sounds noble on paper but continues to be dislodged by insidious obstacles brought by budgetary and monetary bottlenecks that are difficult to unpack due to geopolitical tensions which may be inter-ministerial.
“For example, if you look at the city councils, they are clamping farmers’ vehicles delivering produce at Mbare then you begin to wonder whether there is any inter-ministerial policy coherence,” Dune said.
He added: “You can also look at the way the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion plays foul by not paying for produce delivered to the Grain Marketing Board by Farmers on time.
“So the whole agriculture business remains a white elephant in a very small house. Transformation becomes very difficult on the part of farmers who are the primary actors in the production chain.”
