(HERALD) Make inputs easily accessible, says Made

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

(HERALD) Make inputs easily accessible, says Made

Make inputs easily accessible, says Made
Wednesday, 31 August 2011 02:00
Agriculture Reporter

GOVERNMENT has challenged fertiliser and seed companies to consider introducing credit schemes that allow farmers easy access to inputs ahead of the 2011/12 farming season. The inputs should not be for free and farmers must agree on payment terms with the seed or fertiliser suppliers so that they plant quality and new seed.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made on Monday said most farmers were in the habit of planting recycled seed whenever the rains come before they would have acquired seed, which compromises the quality of produce and yields in the end.

"It does not make much economic sense for input suppliers to sit with huge stocks of inputs in their warehouses while farmers plant old seed because they have no money to buy fresh seed. No farmers at the moment are capable of financing their operations 100 percent independently," said Minister Made.

He appealed to banks and officials working on the fund that Government has promised the agricultural sector to urgently put together the details needed by the Finance Ministry to facilitate the release of the funds.

On the other hand, Minister Made said, Finance Minister Tendai Biti should speed up the payments of delivered grain so that farmers have cash to secure inputs and fund other operations for the coming season.

"Minister Biti can even give the inputs suppliers guarantees that Government will pay the farmers so that they can get inputs on credit and later pay," he said.
The European Union is also mobilising donors to give inputs to farmers, added Minister Made.

"We have agreed with the donors through EU that they need to speedily conclude the selection of the beneficiaries of the programme so that they start preparations for next season in earnest.

"EU is also proposing that this year farmers will either have vouchers to access inputs or be capacitated to make down payments for inputs so that the full potential of communal farmers in particular, is fully realised," said Minister Made.

Minister Made added that next season's focus was on improving yields per unit area hence the need for extension workers to be readily available to assist farmers. He further challenged all Government departments, farmers and the donors (Government's partners) to prioritise empowering the needy farmers first to boost productivity.

Meanwhile, Minister Made has commended the Zimbabwe Agricultural Society for staging a successful show that he said had become the premier event for farmers to showcase their potential.

He, however, urged ZAS to always anticipate huge turnouts for the event as more and more farmers were beginning to realise the benefits of exhibiting and be prepared to handle them.

"As Minister of Agriculture, I would also like to apologise to all the people, especially children who failed to enter the show due to sheer numbers. Children really needed to enjoy and learn new things about our agro-based economy and business in general," he said.

Labels: AGRICULTURE, HARARE AGRICULTURAL SHOW, JOSEPH MADE, MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION (ZIMBABWE)