GOVERNMENT has pledged its commitment to acting on the findings of the Zimbabwe Lands Commission Audit and ensure that the gains of the land reform programme are irreversible, inclusive and productive.
This emerged during the Country Strategy and Programme Evaluation (CSPE) Zimbabwe final workshop in Harare yesterday.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) started assisting the government of Zimbabwe in 1983 and suspended its operations in 2005.
In December 2015, it re-engaged with the government and resumed working together to date.
Speaking at the workshop, Lands and Rural Development minister Vangelis Haritatos said Zimbabweans must desist from being perpetually in the land reform mode.
“We are now looking to productivity and how we can help our farmers contribute positively to our economy. Sixty to 70% of Zimbabweans live in rural areas. If we do not transform the rural economy we will not achieve an upper- middle-income economic status by 2030.
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“That means moving beyond subsistence to surplus, beyond survival to enterprise and beyond aid to trade,” he said.
Haritatos said IFAD projects were a critical vehicle to drive rural development and industrialisation to achieve vision 2030.
“Our goal is to double smallholder incomes by 2030 through land security, climate smart technologies, value addition and market access,” he said.
“Now we must fight for prosperity through good governance, climate action that is people-oriented, rural industrialisation and empowerment of every woman, youth and persons with disability in our communal and resettlement areas,” he said.
Meanwhile, Agriculture, Mechanisation ad Water Development minister Anxious Masuka said Zimbabwe was once regarded the breadbasket of southern Africa, but no longer wants to define itself in that way, instead, it is aiming to position itself as an agro-industrial hub for the region.
“Zimbabwe now wants to become an agro-industrial hub, it is moving away from the dry breadbasket status and mentality of the past.
“Ingredients for a successful agro-industrialisation recipe are all available and we must ensure that we grow these to ensure Zimbabwe becomes this agro-industrial hub,” Masuka said.