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Zimbabwe strives for 60% export earnings from agriculture alone
Zimbabwe is targeting to increase agriculture’s contribution to national export earnings to around 60 percent by next year, from the current 35 percent, due to a number of policy interventions that it has lined up to improve the sector.
This comes after banks pledged over $1.1 billion for the 2017/18 summer cropping season, while Government has so far secured $487 million for the forthcoming season to roll out various programmes, which generate foreign currency and save money at the same time.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development (crop production) Deputy Minister Davison Marapira, said agriculture is the main anchor of the economy, with the potential to enhance economic turnaround prospects for Zimbabwe through exports. He said there are strong backward and forward linkages between agriculture and other sectors of the economy.
“Agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy and by that virtue, the sector should take the lead in export earnings. If we strategically implement the import substitution programmes known as the Command Agriculture programmes, we can increase the sector’s contribution to the national export earnings to around 60 percent by 2018."
“The biggest problem we have in Zimbabwe is that we are not doing enough to market our horticultural products across the country. Macadamia nuts which are abundantly grown in Manicaland have a high demand in Europe and we are not doing enough to earn as much foreign currency as we can from them,” said Deputy Minister Marapira. He said the country has the best climate in the whole world and any crop can do well in Zimbabwe and increased agriculture production will turn around the fortunes of the country’s economy.