Zim agriculture sector well subsidized: Chinamasa

25 Jun, 2018 - 15:06 0 Views
Zim agriculture sector well subsidized: Chinamasa Minister Patrick Chinamasa

eBusiness Weekly

Tawanda Musarurwa

HARARE – Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector is highly subsidized in terms of the Government-lead initiatives that have been put in place in order to boost its performance and contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP).

This was said by Finance and Economic Planning Minister Patrick Chinamasa last week.

He said agricultural subsidies are commonplace globally.

“You are yet to tell me a country, which does not subsidize agriculture. None, including the United States of America, they subsidize agriculture. And in our case we are already subsidizing agriculture in a big way even if we have limited resources.

“The presidential input scheme is purely simply a subsidy. The price structure for our maize, cotton, soya bean, wheat, it’s all subsidized. We pay more than the import parity, which is a clear subsidy. So, for me, I don’t have any problem with subsidizing agriculture, the debate may only be around what model,” said Minister Chinamasa.

Zimbabwe is moving to double agriculture’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in order to create enough capacity to resume food exports into the region.

Added the Finance Minister:

“Do you subsidize through the import side or at the price side, those are the debates. Do you subsidize by making the fertilizer cheaper or not worrying about that side waiting until someone has produced and you subsidize through pricing.”

The Government is driving and expanding its Command Agriculture programme as one of its key policies, not just for boosting agricultural output, but also in respect of reducing an unsustainable import bill, reviving industry and jobs creation.

Already, some agro-based companies listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, buoyed by the two successful agriculture seasons, have recorded impressive results, thanks mainly to the Government’s support schemes.

Buoyed by the success of the ‘command maize’ programme last year, Government has extended Command Agriculture to other crops such as wheat, soyabeans, and rice and livestock to cut the country’s trade deficit to sustainable levels.

Share This:

Sponsored Links

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds