We have to be hard on ourselves by minutely focusing on the entire agricultural production continuum: from preparing for the season right up to delivery to depots. It is no longer sufficient to revel in positive aggregate output, both at micro- and at macro-levels.
We must be more rigorous with ourselves, indeed to use a more onerous set of performance measurements.
What inputs have we used on the land, and to get what output?
What hectarage have we put under crop, and with what result per hectare? What is each dollar invested bringing us by way of marketable surplus? Each unit of electricity, diesel and water used for irrigation? Only that way does our Agriculture become real business, driven by considerations of efficiencies and profitability.
All this, in my view, should begin to be more feasible given the investments we have made in irrigation and in mechanisation; and of course the growing number of extension officers we continue to engage and deploy for greater farmer support. On-farm management is thus key to the whole issue of productivity, the new goal we must now turn to.
Our farmers have heeded our call to put more land under wheat so we offset disruptions related to the conflict in Eastern Europe. I am told we managed to put about 80 000 hectares under the wheat crop. The expected output is about 420 000 tonnes, 20 000 tonnes above our national requirement. This is highly commendable.
Yet there is a more ambitious way of looking at this positive development. Intense performance on the same 80 000 hectares, all of it under irrigation, means we can easily get 800 000 tonnes of grain this coming summer, assuming we achieve at least ten tonnes per hectare.
That would mean a mere 200 000 tonnes shy of half our national grain requirement. With the new focus turning to productivity, this should be easily achievable. Yet 800 000 tonnes is about the aggregate output we attained nationally in the 2021/22 season! We thus need a hard-headed look at productivity.
I am told the global market is short of many agricultural commodities: from cereals, edible oils to cotton lint. With severe droughts related to climate change, the global agricultural commodity supply situation is likely to get worse in the foreseeable future before it gets better. With so much agricultural land on our Continent, Africa’s time has come. Zimbabwe must be a key part of this African Agricultural Century, which is at the core of the Continental Agenda 2063. I am happy our Economy is moving with speed to make the necessary supportive investments, including in the production of more fertilisers.
Continued next page
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