Published by the government of Zimbabwe
8 July 2009
Harare — The agriculture component of the US$950 million facility secured from China will concentrate on providing fertilizer, animal drugs and crop chemicals that are usually in short supply in Zimbabwe, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made has said.
In an interview yesterday, Minister Made said his ministry had already sent fertilizer and chemical specifications to the Chinese government for the country's requirements for the coming season.
But he urged local seed houses to brace for a surge in demand on the local market.
"A huge portion of the agriculture component of the China facility will go into sourcing of fertilizer, animal drugs and crop chemicals. It will also target seed producing farmers so that demand for seed does not outgrow what the country will have in stock.
"The money will seek to increase livestock production through, not only increased growing of white maize for human consumption but also yellow maize for stock feeds.
"The stock feeds will be used in efforts to improve piggery, poultry and dairy production in Zimbabwe.
"This is all part of the ministry's holistic way of improving the country's agriculture sector," he said.
Zimbabwe received a US$950 million loan from China that will be available in tranches to assist the country in health, education, energy and agriculture, among other sectors.
The money is part of a US$5 billion bridging gap finance to assist Zimbabwe turn around its economy.
Minister Made said irrigation development was high on the agenda so farmers could have access to water resources all-year-round and thus increase crop production.
"Irrigation development will be enhanced in line with training that is being done through the Centre of Excellence at Gwebi Agriculture College.
"Zimbabwe will seek to utilise all agricultural land and water resources available. This will in turn require that farmer representative organisations, especially those smallholder farmers, and A1 and A2 farmers work harder and get proper training and representation," he said.
Government has promised that Zimbabwe will be prepared for the forthcoming 2009/10 farming season. In past years the country has failed to realise its targeted crop hectarage and output owing to lack of preparedness in terms of inputs availability.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
It would seem that China is wasteing it's (doubtful) credit line, when all the fertizer that will be neede is provided for free by the dishrag...