Ashton Mutyavaviri
THE Government will continue collaborating with development partners in extending support to farmers, particularly those in dry and marginalised areas, to enhance maximum land utilisation and boost resilience among communities.
Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development permanent secretary Professor Obert Jiri said the Government would continue supporting farmers with different initiatives like business units to ensure they make the country food secure.
"Since agriculture is the backbone of our economy, it is imperative that Government initiates various support programmes, especially for farmers situated in the country's marginal and dry areas. This will enable them to fully utilise their land and boost yields in the process. It also means that such communities will become resilient to the vagaries of the weather that have left them unable to do productive farming every year," said Prof Jiri.
He recently toured Muchefa Village business unit in Ward 18, south-west of Murambinda Growth Point in Manicaland, which has become a testament of the power of collective commitment by communities in ensuring food security.
Prof Jiri said village business units should continue to transform the lives of villagers across the country through improved food security, employment creation and enhanced income generation.
Under the Presidential Rural Development Programme, 35 000 village and 9 600 school business units will be established by 2025.
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The programme is part of the Government's Rural Development 8.0 initiative, whose other components include the Vision 2030 accelerator model, Pfumvudza/Intwasa, Presidential Poultry Scheme, the Presidential Goat Scheme, Presidential Fisheries Scheme, Presidential Blitz Tick Grease Scheme and the Presidential Cotton Inputs Scheme.
Policies to drive development in the marginalised areas are already in place. What is remaining now is just to push them with much vigour, which is what Government is currently doing.
The devolution policy was instituted mainly for the purposes of ensuring that development comes to marginalised areas through empowering the communities.
Agriculture is the backbone for rural economies in Zimbabwe and forms the major component of the developmental aspirations of the country.
Many of the marginalised areas in Zimbabwe are endowed with natural resources where community-based natural resources management can result in the empowerment of the communities.
Meanwhile, the Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS) acting chief director Mr Leonard Munamati said Government is targeting to establish 10 000 village business units across the country by the end of this year.
"The target is to establish at least 10 000 village business units by the end of this year and for us to be able to achieve the set target, at least 1 000 village business units must be established every month," said Mr Munamati.
The areas largely targeted are in regions 4 and 5, which are the country's driest regions, he added.
