HARARE Aid agencies have raised US$52 million for farm inputs to Zimbabwean small-scale farmers as the southern African country targets a bumper maize harvest during the 2010/11 farming season which begins this month. The UNs Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said some 556,000 households have been targeted to receive agricultural input assistance from donors and 70 non-governmental organisations during the 2010/11 season.
More than 19 donors and 70 NGOs are providing $52 million worth of agriculture input support in the 2010/2011 season, OCHA said.
About 330,000 households will receive assistance through direct input distribution or closed voucher system with a pre-determined input pack while 179,000 households will receive open vouchers which give the farmers the option to buy inputs of their choice.
About 50,000 households will receive livestock vouchers enabling them to buy farm animals of their choice.
On average, the input support is sufficient to cover an area of 0.25 to 0.5 hectares per household, consisting of maize, sorghum or millet seeds as well as legumes seed and fertilizer.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti last week also unveiled a US$30million funding package for the summer cropping programme, with the amount being divided into two facilities.
One facility valued at US$8 million will target 100,000 vulnerable households in areas not supported by the humanitarian community.
Beneficiaries will access inputs through a voucher system after participating in a government programme to rehabilitate roads and other state infrastructure.
Another government facility valued at US$22million will support 300,000 communal and old resettlement and A1 farmers with inputs from the Grain Marketing Board at subsidised prices.
Zimbabwe is targeting producing two million tonnes of the staple maize during the forthcoming season.
Agriculture plumbed new depths in 2008 when farmers produced 500,000 tonnes of maize against national requirements of two million tonnes, but production has since picked up in the past year to 1.35 million tonnes.
Post published in: News