Mnangagwa spells out economic plan

THE Government will give every interested household free farming inputs to consolidate the country's expanding agro-production, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.

A catalogue of interventions will also be instituted in mining, manufacturing, infrastructure and other economic sectors to create multiple job opportunities.

Further, authorities will implement all key economic programmes speedily under an action-oriented matrix that ensures results in the shortest possible time.

At the Zanu-PF Extraordinary Congress in Harare on Friday, President Mnangagwa said Government would prioritise work and delivery over rhetoric.

"We will also open Zimbabwe up to investment by building an open, free and transparent economy, which benefits Zimbabweans and is welcoming to outsiders.

"These initiatives, across all sectors, demonstrate that we have begun a new journey towards real growth and investment to empower our people. This thrust will undoubtedly translate to more jobs and more jobs and a better living standard for all.

"On my part, I assure you that these are not pipe-dreams. Government will move with haste to ensure that all agreed programmes become a reality in the shortest possible period. Both the party and its Government will no longer be about talk, but about work and delivery. That I assure you."

President Mnangagwa said farming inputs would be availed under an expanded Presidential Well-Wishers Agricultural Inputs Support Scheme.

The scheme previously did well to support around one million households and will now cover anyone who is interested.

" . . . Government will through the newly-reconstituted Ministry of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement ensure that appropriate policy instruments are put in place to support all categories of farmers; be it A1, A2, resettled or communal farmers; with focus on productivity and maximum utilisation of all agriculture land.

". . . With the anticipated improvement of productivity in cropping, we have put in place measures to increase our harvesting capacity, through the importation of combine harvesters, driers and other agricultural equipment."

The President said Government's broad economic plan involved galvanising all sectors in primary production to value-addition towards industrialisation and swift economic growth.

"I am confident that the vast interventions in the agricultural sector will improve our fortunes not only as a country, but, principally, at household level.

In the quest to unlock the maximum benefits from our primary products and translate these to dollars in both the national purse and people's pockets, we are intensifying our efforts in value-addition, beneficiation and industrialisation.

"Communities and the membership of the party should fully exploit these opportunities as active participants. As a result of various financial facilities from multi-lateral and bi-lateral organisations, we are expecting that our industries will be retooled, the National Railways of Zimbabwe revitalised and Harare-Beitbridge highway dualised.

"In the same vein, we will accelerate implementation of the special economic zones which will attract new foreign investments. The inroads made to date in the mining sector, coupled with untapped potential as well as emerging partnerships, point to the fact that economic recovery is imminent."

President Mnangagwa said all these measures would be underpinned by free market principles.