Published by the government of Zimbabwe
22 December 2008
Harare — GOVERNMENT yesterday started distributing agricultural inputs received from South Africa under the R300 million Sadc aid package.
The package will see communal, old resettlement and old purchase farming areas receiving maize seed, small grain seed, Compound D and ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
Under the package, the South African government will give Zimbabwe 12 700 tonnes of maize seed, 2 404 tonnes of small grain seed, 2 800 tonnes of top dressing fertilizer, 8 500 tonnes of Compound D and 10 million litres of fuel.
Speaking after inspecting some of the seed in Harare yesterday, Agriculture Minister Cde Rugare Gumbo said the seed would be immediately disbursed to GMB depots across the country.
"We have launched the distribution today (yesterday) and we expect the seed to start being transported to various centres across the country," he said.
Although inputs under the programme would be stored at the GMB, the distribution would be done through other Government departments.
"We will only be using GMB facilities for storage purposes and the distribution will be done through Agritex and farmer organisations," he said.
His sentiments come after delegates to the Zanu-PF 10th National People's Conference in Bindura expressed dissatisfaction with the GMB's input distribution programme.
President Mugabe also said he had lost faith in the parastatal.
On the timing of the aid package, Cde Gumbo said the Government was trying to distribute seed quickly so that farmers beat the December 31 planting deadline.
"We are hopeful that farmers would receive the seed early enough and because there were short-season varieties, farmers would be able to produce something," he said.
He said small grains that would be distributed under the programme included cowpeas and sorghum.
"The seed being distributed is ideal for late planting and we expect to get some yields come harvest time," Cde Gumbo said.
The South African agricultural package, unveiled under the aegis of Sadc, followed an injection of US$21,4 million into Zimbabwe's agriculture sector by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
The Government is also running the Champion Farmer programme that has targeted 500 000 hectares for maize production and a further 200 000 hectares for small grain production.
The National Food Security Programme is being implemented under the Government's Resource Mobilisation and Utilisation Committee.
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