News / National
Chiwenga urges confidence in Zimdollar
30 Sep 2021 at 07:11hrs | Views
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has warned businesses against operating in the parallel foreign exchange market as Government will take punitive action against them.
The Vice President urged Zimbabweans to have confidence in the local currency to retain its value against other currencies.
He said this while officiating at the 9th Annual National Agri-business Conference at the on-going Zimbabwe Agricultural Show.
The interface was attended by stakeholders in the agriculture industry to discuss challenges faced by the sector and possible solutions.
Vice President Chiwenga said while Government was pleased with the continued increase in production and productivity across most sectors of the economy "Businesses should not be hoodwinked by some malcontents that are operating on the parallel foreign exchange market where foreign exchange arbitrage has become their lucrative business at the expense of the stability of the economy".
He said relevant arms of Government will continue to deal decisively with all contents for the betterment of the people.
"Already a number of them have been brought to book and many more shall follow suit as we intensify our efforts to deal with those who are counterproductive to the sustainable growth of the economy.
"I wish to reiterate the need for us all to have confidence in our currency, the Zimbabwean dollar. We need to give it our trust so that it can retain is value against other currencies hence the need for local productive capacity in all sectors of the economy for both local consumption and export," he said.
VP Chiwenga said agriculture was key to the national development and the realisation of Vision 2030 relied on the increase of production and productivity within the industry.
"The country is targeting 3 million tonnes of maize an all-time record high in light of the forecasted normal to above normal rainfall in the 2021/22 season.
"The maize target will be reached through Government programmes such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa Conservation Agriculture Programme, the National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme and the Presidential Inputs scheme.
"Government is planning to expand the Presidential Inputs Scheme to cover 2,3 million households up from 1,8 million under the same programme last year," he said.
VP Chiwenga said Government will continue to enhance market access for farmer produce especially of the horticultural and livestock products which are mainly perishable. said.
He implored stakeholders to come up with solutions to bolster the agricultural sector's performance.
"Government will promote market based investments in sustainable farm mechanisation programmes that improve farmer access to agricultural equipment and implements under purchase or lease from financial institutions," he said.
Zimbabwe Agricultural Society president, Mr Ngoni Kudenga said the agricultural sectors was still faced with a number of challenges which required the intervention of stakeholders to solve.
He said stakeholders should work so that the agriculture sector could grow by 10 percent every year in pursuit of Vision 2030.
The Vice President urged Zimbabweans to have confidence in the local currency to retain its value against other currencies.
He said this while officiating at the 9th Annual National Agri-business Conference at the on-going Zimbabwe Agricultural Show.
The interface was attended by stakeholders in the agriculture industry to discuss challenges faced by the sector and possible solutions.
Vice President Chiwenga said while Government was pleased with the continued increase in production and productivity across most sectors of the economy "Businesses should not be hoodwinked by some malcontents that are operating on the parallel foreign exchange market where foreign exchange arbitrage has become their lucrative business at the expense of the stability of the economy".
He said relevant arms of Government will continue to deal decisively with all contents for the betterment of the people.
"Already a number of them have been brought to book and many more shall follow suit as we intensify our efforts to deal with those who are counterproductive to the sustainable growth of the economy.
"I wish to reiterate the need for us all to have confidence in our currency, the Zimbabwean dollar. We need to give it our trust so that it can retain is value against other currencies hence the need for local productive capacity in all sectors of the economy for both local consumption and export," he said.
"The country is targeting 3 million tonnes of maize an all-time record high in light of the forecasted normal to above normal rainfall in the 2021/22 season.
"The maize target will be reached through Government programmes such as Pfumvudza/Intwasa Conservation Agriculture Programme, the National Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Scheme and the Presidential Inputs scheme.
"Government is planning to expand the Presidential Inputs Scheme to cover 2,3 million households up from 1,8 million under the same programme last year," he said.
VP Chiwenga said Government will continue to enhance market access for farmer produce especially of the horticultural and livestock products which are mainly perishable. said.
He implored stakeholders to come up with solutions to bolster the agricultural sector's performance.
"Government will promote market based investments in sustainable farm mechanisation programmes that improve farmer access to agricultural equipment and implements under purchase or lease from financial institutions," he said.
Zimbabwe Agricultural Society president, Mr Ngoni Kudenga said the agricultural sectors was still faced with a number of challenges which required the intervention of stakeholders to solve.
He said stakeholders should work so that the agriculture sector could grow by 10 percent every year in pursuit of Vision 2030.
Source - chronicle
