Zimbabwe Takes Strides Towards Food Security for All

By Ilyana Sithole

Zimbabwe is working hard towards sustainable food security for all its citizens… This was reiterated at a platform where senior government officials, development stakeholders, and partners gathered to share and strategize on enhancing food access and availability throughout the country at Cresta Oasis Hotel in Harare during the inception workshop on the “Strengthening Rural Governance for the Right to Food” project.

Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Professor Dr. Obert Jiri, Mr. Clemence Taderera Bwenje, Chief Director, Department of Business Development, Markets and Trade (BDMT), noted the government’s unwavering commitment to eliminating hunger and poverty. He assured that the objective is at the heart of the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) and the forthcoming NDS2, which project a prosperous and empowered Zimbabwe by 2030, and with food security as its foundation.”The Second Republic under the able presidency of His Excellency President Dr. Emmerson Mnangagwa is steadfast in eliminating hunger and poverty and enhancing people of Zimbabwe’s quality of life and standards of living,” Mr. Bwenje said.

“All individuals must have physical and economic access all the time to sufficient food or to the means by which one can obtain it. In agriculture, we reiterate that we want food everywhere, every day.” Mr. Bwenje emphasized the core position of agriculture in food security, given its high contribution to livelihoods, employment, and national GDP. He also recognized the climatic challenges of climate change, long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and increased production costs, especially fertilizers and food. “These are enemies in the house,” he asserted, as he made a call for best-of-breed solutions and resilience measures.

The government’s multi-faceted strategy in enhancing food security was mapped out by the Chief Director through a series of flagship programs and policy initiatives. These are the very successful Pfumvudza/Intwasa program for encouraging conservation agriculture and climate-smart agriculture, Village Business Units of the Presidential Rural Development Programme for water access and horticulture production, and a range of irrigation and fish stocking interventions. He highlighted that these initiatives are aimed at increasing agricultural productivity and improving environmental shock resilience.

Mr. Bwenje went on to explain the harmonized policy framework that support Zimbabwe’s food security policy which include the National Agriculture Policy Framework, the National Nutrition Strategy, the Zimbabwe Smart Agriculture Investment Plan, the Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy, the National Policy on Drought Management, and the Food Deficit Mitigation Programme. He brought to the fore how these policies are interlinked and how they are aimed at create an enabling environment for agricultural innovation, food systems sustainability, and efficient drought management.

In addition, Mr. Bwenje placed utmost on the need for multi-stakeholder collaboration, involving government, civil society, private sector, and development partners. Furthermore, he called for collective action to scrutinize current policies, identify gaps, and enable evidence-based decision-making. “Let’s question these policies,” he urged, “Are we getting what we want? Is everyone having food on their table? Is everyone going to bed having eaten something?”

Mr. Bwenje gave prominence to successes in several programs, of note the remarkable achievement of the Pfumvudza/Intwasa program, which surpassed its target for the 2023-2024 season. He also mentioned the Presidential Rural Development Program’s Village Business Units program, which is proving to bring essential access to water and nutritional security. Also noted was the Title Deeds to A2 and commercial farmers, a step that would improve land security and access to finance.

Lastly, Mr. Bwenje reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the development of a broad-based and strong regulatory framework for food security. He was assured that the “Strengthening Rural Governance for the Right to Food” project would complement government efforts and help go a long way in making agriculture sustainable and resilient. “Together,” he said, “we can achieve food security everywhere, every day.”