ZIMBABWE – The Zimbabwean government has announced a comprehensive plan to revive agricultural production for the upcoming 2024/2025 campaign in response to the severe drought that devastated harvests during the 2023/2024 season.
Unveiled on July 16 at the Council of Ministers, the strategy spearheaded by Anxious Masuka, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development, calls for a substantial investment of US$1.6 billion.
The financing of this ambitious plan will be a collaborative effort, with 40% of the required funds provided by the government through its key agricultural input subsidy programme, “Pfumvudza.”
The remaining 60% will come from private sector contributions, ensuring broad-based support for the agricultural sector’s revival.
“This plan is part of the context of a 2023/2024 summer season ravaged by drought induced by the El Niño climate phenomenon and a forecast of better rainfall, given the increasing probability of the occurrence of the La Niña climate phenomenon during the 2024/2025 summer season,” the Council of Ministers stated in their press release.
The focus of the interventions will be on boosting the production of food and fodder crops, oilseeds, and industrial crops.
Notably, the government aims to achieve an 8.6% increase in the area sown to cereals, targeting 2.5 million hectares, up from 2.3 million hectares last year.
Recently, ministry data reported that Zimbabwean farmers have planted 121,769 hectares of wheat this season, a 34% increase from last year, surpassing the ambitious target of 120,000 hectares.
The pure irrigated wheat crop, deemed essential amidst the El Niño-induced drought, is expected to yield over 600,000 tonnes, far exceeding the country’s ordinary requirement of 360,000 tonnes.
Minister Masuka highlighted that the yield of traditional cereals is expected to surge from an average of 180 kilograms per hectare in the 2023/2024 season to 800 kilograms per hectare in 2024/2025.
If these projections are met, Zimbabwe could see a significant rebound in cereal production, potentially harvesting 3.2 million tons, a dramatic increase from the 750,000 tons produced the previous year.
The corn harvest, in particular, is projected to reach 2.7 million tons, a critical milestone given that annual maize consumption in Zimbabwe stands at 2.2 million tons, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The 2023/2024 season marked the worst maize harvest in eight years for Zimbabwe, underscoring the urgent need for effective measures to counter the adverse effects of climate variability.
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