Harare (New Ziana) – Government has identified several strategies to enhance land utilization in order to consolidate the gains of Zimbabwe’s hard won independence, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Saturday.
He was speaking in a special televised address marking the country’s 40th independence anniversary.
The anniversary celebrations could not be held in the traditional manner due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
President Mnangagwa said land ownership was the major grievance which inspired the war of liberation, as such ensuring maximum productivity would be a fulfilment of the wishes of the country’s liberators.
“Our Land Reform Programme remains a fundamental cog to our independence and sovereignty. The land shall forever remain united with the people, and the people to their land. To this, there is no wavering or going back,” he said.
“However, we shall not shy away from fine-tuning our strategies to enhance land utilization, equitable access and productivity.”
President Mnangagwa said more than half a billion dollars had been set aside for the rehabilitation and expansion of irrigation projects countrywide while grain production had been expanded to include a broader variety of traditional crops, besides maize.
He said government would continue providing appropriate incentives to encourage this new trajectory to aid agricultural growth.
He said the Presidential Input Support Scheme and other Smart Agriculture strategies outlined in the Agriculture Recovery Plan were being consolidated to enable beneficiaries under these schemes to excel.
The President said the farm mechanization project was also on course, with more agricultural equipment coming in from across the world.
“I want to express gratitude to all our farmers who have managed to produce to sustain and feed our nation, even under several consecutive droughts. Henceforth, our thrust is to make our agriculture adapt to climate-change,” he said.
President Mnangagwa said the recurrent droughts had impacted on national food security, but promised that no one would starve as food imports were being scaled up.
Food support would be offered to people in urban areas while orphans and vulnerable children will continue benefiting from the Basic Education Assistance Module which is expected to cater for a total of 1.2 million children this year.
“Our situation is compounded by the continuing illegal economic sanctions, which we have endured for close to half of our years of Independence. These sanctions have limited our options and constricted our possibilities of freely interacting in the global economy. I thank the European Union for softening its stance towards us. I implore Washington to promptly lift these illegal sanctions against us without any preconditions. They are illegal and hurtful to our people; Zimbabwe does not deserve them,” he said.
Turning to the ongoing fight against Covid-19, President Mnangagwa applauded Zimbabweans, health personnel, security forces, institutions of higher education, the private sector and churches for their overwhelming response to the national response against Covid-19.
“I further commend the nation as a whole for the manner we have carried ourselves during this National Lockdown. In unity, love and common purpose nothing can prevail against us. May this national character continue to grow and flourish,” he said.
“The silver lining to the present global health crisis is the awakening of our national creativity and inventiveness. It is commendable that local industries and universities have become hubs for import substitution, starting with the essential materials needed for immediate use in our health sector. My administration is committed to support the manufacturing processes developed as part of our defence against Covid-19.”
He added; “Beyond grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, we have to keep our economy functional. Unavoidable shocks and disruptions must be mitigated. Once the lockdown is over, we must all get back to work, with discipline and harder effort as we ready ourselves for a speedy economic recovery.
“It is the expectation that buoyant industries that meet our needs, while serving regional, continental and even global demand will emerge henceforth. Scientific research, development, innovation and technologies for the vast economic spectrum towards greater value addition will be encouraged.”
President Mnangagwa said vision 2030 remained alive even in the face of the devastating pandemic which has disrupted government plans and programmes.
“Vision 2030 is alive and beyond Covid-19, its accomplishment must be accelerated. Our present experiences, in the wake of this pandemic, teach us that friends and investors may assist us. However, it is the collective efforts of all of our nationals across all sectors that will make the difference. We must, thus, scale up dialogue among each other to harness our abilities, competencies, skills and resources,” he said.
New Ziana
