HARARE Metropolitan Province minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Charles Tawengwa, yesterday launched the Pfumvudza/Intwasa programme in Hopley as the summer cropping season draws close.
In the province, the programme is expected to benefit 244 000 households, potentially cushioning them against hunger.
“The government does not discriminate when distributing the Pfumvudza inputs” said Tawengwa, addressing hundreds of people at the launch. It is part of the National Development Strategy 1 which aims, among other things, to uplift the living standards of people in all parts of the country.
As the government is moving towards ensuring a food-secure nation, the climate proofed Presidential Pfumvudza/Intwasa Input scheme has proven to boost agricultural productivity.
The concept promotes conservation agriculture technologies and is meant to maximise production even during drought periods such as the one anticipated in the 2023/24 agriculture season.
Under the scheme, the government is working on ensuring that farmers grow crops according to their ecological regions, with farmers in agro-ecological regions 4 and 5, encouraged to grow traditional grains to ensure food self-sufficiency at household level
At least 3.5 million farmers from communal, A1, small-scale commercial farming, old resettlement and the transient urban cultivators are targeted under the climate–proofed Presidential Input Programme. Each farmer will receive a 50kg bag of basal fertiliser, topdressing fertiliser and lime.
The package per farmer for other optional crops will be 2kg each for sorghum, sunflower, sugar beans and groundnuts as well as 1kg of pearl millet and African peas. However, Tavengwa warned beneficiaries not to abuse the inputs, saying they faced prosecution if caught. — New Ziana
