Midlands exceeded its 2024 winter wheat target by 2 percent, aligning with its economic development plan, Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Owen Ncube has said.
Minister Ncube told farmers attending a wheat production field day at Mutange Irrigation Scheme in Gokwe South last week recently that the Government will continue to put in place systems to increase harvest.
He credited the attainment of the winter target to strategic partnerships and the Second Republic's inclusive development approach, which is transforming previously marginalised districts like Gokwe South, Gokwe North, and Mberengwa into thriving wheat and maize producers through irrigation.
"Through such partnerships, the Midlands Province surpassed its 2024 winter wheat farming target by 102 percent. We are grateful to the Second Republic for its development mantra of leaving no one and no place behind, as previously marginalised dry and arid regions like Gokwe South, Gokwe North and Mberengwa now produce wheat and maize under irrigation, an achievement previously unimaginable."
Minister Ncube said the event was a testimony to the New Dispensation's strategic policy decision to rope in the private sector and industrialise the economy.
This had led to the modernisation and industrialisation of Zimbabwe towards a prosperous and empowered upper-middle-income society by 2030.
The irrigation scheme resonates with the aspirations of the Second Republic's development trajectory, focusing on production and productivity.
"In this regard, President Mnangagwa recently underscored the New Dispensation's commitment to implementing the Climate Smart Agriculture 8.0 Model and retaining agricultural self-sufficiency through financial inclusion, innovation, mechanisation, and water harvesting technologies.
"I am pleased to visit Mutange irrigation scheme, which has over 150 members and operates efficiently under a joint venture with Brainchild Farms," he said.
Minister Ncube said Mutange irrigation scheme now boasts 91 hectares of flourishing winter wheat and 31 hectares of maize.
