a stated.
The US$8,2 billion Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy was introduced by President Mnangagwa in August 2020, and its goal is to increase food production.
As the nation strives to have an upper middle-income economy by 2030, the effort to improve food security at the family level has begun to show success.
As a result of the government allocating more resources to the agriculture sector in order to increase production, the nation has stopped importing grain because it is able to fulfill demand.
To mechanize agricultural productivity, the government will introduce a two-wheeled tractor this year to replace ox-drawn ploughs.
To lessen reliance on erratic rain-fed agricultural, the nation will also increase the area of irrigable land.
Speaking last year in Bulawayo at a National Thanksgiving and Dedication Service
Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Development Dr. Anxious Masuka claimed on Friday that the President’s plans to overhaul the agriculture industry have begun to bear fruit.
“Let me talk about some recent success, you probably know that Zimbabwe was joined by
Ethiopia, only two weeks ago, as the only two African countries that are self-sufficient in
wheat. Yes, for the first time in the history of the country we have produced 375 000 tonnes
of wheat, enough for our requirement for 13 months,” said Dr Masuka.
Zimbabwe requires 360 000 tonnes of wheat annually and for years the country imported
wheat from Ukraine.
But the Russian-Ukrainian war escalated the need for nations to become self-sufficient as
the war affected supply chains and increased the price of wheat.
Dr Masuka said as a result of the climate-proofing agriculture such as Pvumfudza/Intwasa
now supporting 3,5 million rural and peri-urban farmers, the country has stopped grain
imports.
He claimed that the nation has enough supplies to get it through till the next harvest.
We produced 2,9 million tonnes of maize in the 2020–21 season, the most the nation has ever produced, when we climate-proofed agriculture at the household level.
We generated 1.5 million tonnes of grain last year due to a mid-season drought, but we had enough in our strategic grain stockpiles to prevent imports, according to Dr. Masuka.