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THE European Union (EU) has scaled up efforts to rehabilitate Zimbabwe’s battered agricultural sector through the announcement of a 9.2 million Euro (US$13 million) funding scheme to assist smallholder communal farmers with inputs and extensions services.
While maintaining restrictive measures against President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle, senior EU officials said the bloc would now concentrate on programmes that directly benefit ordinary citizens.
Head of the EU Delegation in Zimbabwe Xavier Marchal said the new scheme, which will run over the years from 2010 to 2012 was inspired by their conviction that “the stabilisation and eventual rehabilitation of the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe is crucial to its economic revival”.
“Agriculture is a critical dimension of economic recovery,” said Marchal in a speech read on his behalf at the launch of the fund in Harare on Thursday.
“Moving away from a narrow humanitarian perspective, reviving agricultural production is central to rebuilding food and livelihood security, thereby avoiding Zimbabwe’s dependency on large scale food importation.
“This new project is part of the EU policy aiming at moving this country from food aid to food security, helping to build self-reliance at smallholder level.”
However, Marchal pointed out that their goodwill to ordinary Zimbabweans was still “implemented in line with EU restricted policy towards Zimbabwe”.
EU food security co-ordinator for Zimbabwe, Pierre-Luc Vanhaeverbeke, said despite the sanctions, they won’t abandon Zimbabweans.
“This is an up-scaling of what we have been doing over the years in Zimbabwe, it is of direct benefit to the population of Zimbabwe.
“We are not going to abandon the population of Zimbabwe,” Vanhaeverbeke said.
The funds, to be disbursed through the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), will see an additional 80 000 households across the country getting assistance in terms of inputs.
In the 2009/2010 farming season, about 176 000 smallholder farmers nationwide received inputs from under the EU Food Facility.
The scheme targets mostly farmers who use conservation agricultural methods which require minimum tillage.
Conservation agriculture, which has transformed food production in countries like Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, is widely recommended in Zimbabwe.
The multiple benefits, according to the FAO and those supporting the idea, include increased yields, efficient use of seeds and fertiliser, water harvesting and preservation of the environment.
The FAO representative for Zimbabwe, Gaoju Han said the fund will go a long way in improving agricultural productivity in Zimbabwe, which was almost grounded by the government’s chaotic land reform exercise.
“Under this new facility, FAO will work towards the improvement of agricultural productivity in Zimbabwe and to reduce the dependency of vulnerable communities on humanitarian assistance,” Han said.
The money will be used to purchase such inputs as fertiliser and seed, as well as supporting training of farmers and extension work.
“FAO will contribute to the production, analysis and dissemination of agricultural and food security information to the benefit of decision makers in the various fields of humanitarian, policy and private sectors,” added Han.
Although critics have blamed the government’s often violent land redistribution exercise for the collapse of agricultural output, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Ngoni Masoka said their major challenge was lack of resources.
He ducked questions on the volatile exercise, saying it fell under the Ministry of Lands and Resettlement.
“We need resources; issues of resources need to be addressed. In terms of planning we are always far ahead than other countries in the region, but issues of resources are a major hindrance,” Masoka said.
Under its Global Food Security programme, the EU has contributed more than $170 million to agricultural development in Zimbabwe.
The bloc also provides funding for agriculture, health, education, human rights and governance.
The government, through Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, has already admitted that the food situation is very bleak this year, and has recommended the importation of 500 000 tonnes of maize.
BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE
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