(HERALD) Make follow-ups on input beneficiaries

Make follow-ups on input beneficiaries

EDITOR — Allow me to air my views on the ongoing input rollout by the Government.

This is a timely and positive step that is bound to ensure national food security, especially in light of the good rains forecast by the Meteorological Services Department. However, it is very important that there be utmost transparency in the distribution of these inputs.

It has become the norm in some areas that officers distributing inputs enrich themselves and their partners at the expense of others, ending up selling them to desperate farmers at inflated prices.

The Government must make sure that the inputs reach everyone who needs them so that everyone, especially the poor rural folk, benefit from the facility.

But what is also important is that Government makes follow-ups on the beneficiaries to ensure the inputs are put to good use.

The summer cropping season is upon us and Government must ensure that it continues supporting communal farmers who have the capacity to produce more food than commercial farmers.

Zimbabwe, coming from an era of unprecedented economic, political, and social challenges is well poised to regain its place as the breadbasket of Southern Africa.

We cannot afford to play second fiddle to the likes of Malawi; we have the skills, the determination and the land.

Let us take our position as the leading agro-economy in Africa.

John Shoko.

Chegutu.