Zimbabwe cannot rely on imports, says Mohadi

VICE-PRESIDENT Kembo Mohadi has said the country cannot continue to rely on grain and cereal imports when it has the capacity to utilise irrigation schemes that are lying idle throughout the country to produce enough food to feed its people.

The Vice-President was speaking on the sidelines of a launch and signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) and SPA Community Trust on providing cutting edge research on non-communicable diseases and participating in community service through the Faculty of Medicine and the Institute of Development Studies in Bulawayo yesterday.

He said equipping irrigation schemes and eventually irrigating crops was the most feasible solution to avert continuous importation of grain which requires the much-needed foreign currency.

"Our ultimate plan is to feed people through irrigation. We have more than 10 000 dams in the country, but there is no meaningful irrigation that is taking place, most of them are just master plans. For instance, Tokwe Mukosi, if they take up about 25 000 hectares of land under irrigation, we can develop that so that people can have food. We do not want a situation whereby we rely on imports of grain, we want to grow it (grain) internally. All the dams that we have will create irrigation schemes," he said.

He added that crops under irrigation could sustain the nation as seen by the Tongaat Hulletts irrigation scheme in the Lowveld which is about to harvest winter maize.

"The advantage is that, in that region we can plant winter maize because temperatures are high. We are saying so because we have an example of Tongaat (Huletts) who has just put 4 000 hectares of winter maize so we can still do it," he said.

VP Mohadi said the country was focused on providing food security for the millions of people.

He also said it was safe for farmers to start planting crops as there are predictions of a good farming season.

"The Meteorological Service Department (MSD) predicts that the cropping season will be better, they have detected La Nina which is the one that brings rains to this region so we encourage people to start planting crops with these earliest rains. It is important that there is now a bit of moisture on the ground with at least 20 millimetres of rain so they can start planting crops," he said.

Rains have started falling in the greater part of the country and some farmers have started planting various cops.

VP Mohadi said the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme, a crop production intensification approach under which farmers ensure the use of resources (inputs and labour) on a small area of land in order to optimize its management must be adopted.

"We are also encouraging that they (farmers) go the pfumvudza way so that they maintain the moisture in the soil. With pfumvudza we have what is called mulching, where farmers put grass and leaves so that moisture does not evaporate fast. I think we can do something," he encouraged.

Speaking during the launch of the SPA Community Trust, VP Mohadi said people living in the Diaspora still have their country at heart as seen by interventions that are assisting communities in Zimbabwe.

"As Government we are encouraged that our people in the Diaspora have not forgotten home. Zimbabweans attach value to home. Home is where you hail from and it is where you will rest as we embark on our journey to meet our maker. As Government we find the initiative to form a community-based trust between the diaspora and Nust laudable. This partnership will no doubt spur our country towards its vision for an upper middle-income economy by the year 2030," he said.

VP Mohadi also said the initiative by Spa Community Trust to cater for the needs of the elderly also dovetails with section 21 of the Constitution that stresses the need for the State and all its institutions and agencies at every level to secure respect, support and protect the elderly while they participate in the life of their communities. The trust was formed by Mrs Nokuthula Ncube-Ndlovu who has been in the Diaspora for 17 years and is aimed at looking after the elderly who suffer from non-communicable diseases and children living with disabilities.