Command agriculture the way to go for Zimbabwe

The recent announcement by government on the $500 million command agricultural programme where it aims to produce two million tonnes of maize from 400 000 hectares of land, is an indicative that the government has learnt a lot through the successive droughts that have been occurring in the country. Such a move would be good to the country as the availability of food would be a necessity to the livelihood of all Zimbabweans.

It should be recalled that Zimbabwe since independence has been having disturbing droughts stretching back as far back as in 1985 where some parts of the Southern districts of the country went for months without adequate food with households surviving one meal per day. Some school going age children had to drop from schools as a result of that drought. In 1992 the country again faced one of its worst droughts in history where some livestocks were not spared. Some communal farmers watched helplessly as their livestocks dead as a result of that drought. Some herds of cattle and goats had no grazing areas since the grazing pastures were swept away by drought so people had no choice but to watch as their livestocks die.

As if the 1992 drought was not enough, in 2000 the Cyclone Eline swept across the country causing another drought leaving some Zimbabweans hopeless and looking to the government for drought relief assistance. Government had to come up with some Food for Work programs as a means to make sure that food reaches to the intended beneficiaries. The Food for Work programs that have been introduced in the early 1990s as an initiative by government to lessen the issue of giving people drought relief without working for it. Such an initiative made it necessary for people to get what they had worked for and the program was a success in most districts around the country.

For that reason the government has seen it fit now to come up with the command agriculture which would lessen the burden of importing maize from other country. The fact that the government has put in place about five hundred million United States of America dollars (US$500 million) targeting to produce two million tonnes of maize from four hundred thousand hectares of land shows that the government means business. The command agriculture would see the country having some green belts as irrigations schemes would be created and those who had been lying idle revived.

Actually the world over has been watching with surprise why Zimbabwe on the first place embarked on the land reform program when the government had no plans to utilise such land which hitherto was used by white commercial farmers. So the command agriculture would show the doubting thomases that Zimbabwe is there to win the war against hunger and drought. Availing funds to both communal and commercial farmers by government with the sole advice of producing maize in the country would make the land reform program a successful story. Those who have been denouncing the land reform program would be ashamed by the success of this command agriculture program and even other African countries might emulate the road which Zimbabwe would have travelled through. They could also be forced to take the same route with that this government would have taken.

When the government embarked on the compulsory acquisition of land during the turn of the twenty first century most of the western countries denounced the move with the country getting economic sanctions imposed against her by the same. The western countries were against the land reform as those who had that large tracts of land were the white commercial farmers with the black indigenous people having nothing to show. Some black indigenous people were not given opportunities to own land by their colonial masters but only whites had the preserve of having it. Only very few blacks had land and the land reform was instituted as a means to correct such land ownership irregularities.

So the move taken by government to come up with this command agriculture would sustain the country from experiencing food shortages. This program if well implemented would see the country retaining the food basket status of the region. While most of the Zimbabwean communal farmers have been relying on rainfall for their agricultural purposes but with the coming in of this program a lot of farmers would be comfortable working in their land using irrigation means. In most of the southern districts of the country especially Chiredzi and Mwenezi there are some good fertile soils which can sustain the country if irrigation programs are instituted there.

Basically the whole of Masvingo province and some parts of Manicaland province would do well with irrigation programs being undertaken if funds for such programs are made available. So the government need to make sure that the command agriculture is a success by reviving all irrigation schemes which have been left unattended because of some shortage of capital investments. In Chiredzi which is known for perennial drought there are some two biggest irrigation schemes which if revived could see the country benefiting a lot from food stocks. The Chilonga and Malipati Irrigation schemes used to sustain the district and even beyond during their time when things were goo. Such sustainability of food was proper coming from those irrigation schemes during drought times but both irrigations are now white elephants.

So with the government coming up with this command agriculture hope is there that such irrigation schemes in Chiredzi coupled with others across the country would be revived so that Zimbabwe is able to sustain its food stocks without importing from other countries. Zimbabwe is blessed with various large rivers and dams with proper availability of water in those sources. So what is needed is to harvest that water for irrigation purposes so that the government is served from continuously importing maize from other countries.

Zimbabweans should now gear themselves in supporting the government on its effort to make sure that the country get enough food throughout the year using this command agriculture initiative. With the availability of funds and land there is nothing which could stop Zimbabwe from claiming back its food basket of the region hence every Zimbabwean should take part in this initiative.

--------------
John Mukumbo <mukumbojohn@yahoo.com