AUTHORITIES have announced plans to eliminate the need for government to maintain price incentives for traditional grain production.
The government implemented a policy that offers a 20% price premium for traditional grains over maize to encourage their cultivation between 2020 and 2023.
Lands, Agriculture Fisheries, Water and Rural Development minister Anxious Masuka revealed that the country produced 634 000 metric tonnes of traditional grains this year, complementing a harvest of 2,293 million metric tonnes of maize.
“We have now moved to a situation where there is no longer a need to incentivise traditional grain production,” Masuka said during post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday.
Masuka said the strategic tailoring of crops to their suitable agro-ecological zones had firmly placed the country on a path to food self-sufficiency.
He encouraged farmers in low-rainfall regions to continue focusing on traditional grains, which are more drought-tolerant. To facilitate this, the government is implementing a swap arrangement through the Grain Marketing Board (GMB).
“Once they have done so, if their palates are accustomed to maize, we are trying to do a swap arrangement with the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) so that farmers desist from growing crops that are unsuited to their agro-ecological zones,” he explained.
Masuka underscored the importance of climate-proofing the nation’s agriculture through the adoption of smart practices.
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“At a household level, we want a sustainable, intensive conservation agriculture model called Pfumvudza/Intwasa, which must be a universal practice by now,” he said.
“At a national level, we must complement this household effort by ensuring that we accelerate dam construction.”
