Agriculture has been the mainstay of the economy and contributes a significant fraction to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Zimbabwe. It has evolved from a necessity for production of food for the subsistence of families to an industrialised business that produces raw materials that are processed into food, feed, fuel, or industrial products. Agriculture and the manufacturing industry in Zimbabwe are closely integrated and increasing agricultural production with an aim of surpassing subsistence is vital in the generation of surplus produce to support the non-agricultural sector, hence, reviving and promoting economic growth.
Ronald Kudzai & Sayid Ali Kativu
Lessons from Egypt land reclamation
Since agriculture is the foundation to the success of our economy, there is need to acknowledge that it is a knowledge-based sector, highlighting the need for agricultural training and education. Food security continues to be an important and pressing issue in Zimbabwe. Food security will not improve until we prioritise and acknowledge the role of crop sciences and agronomy. Zimbabwe now houses a lot of universities and colleges, with some of them offering tertiary level training in agricultural sciences and natural resources management. Despite being endowed with these many facilities and producing young graduates in agriculture, we find ourselves in a situation of food deficit. A situation in which we also have “an income level which is so low and a large chunk of our country’s income is required for food imports.”
Without a doubt, agricultural education and training has proven to be a crucial key, yet a much-ignored component of agricultural development in Zimbabwe. There is a growing number of graduates, who are having difficulties in finding employment. The graduates also want to be entrepreneurs (agro-entrepreneurs) and contribute towards employment creation, but they do not have access to land.
We know of fellow colleagues (crop science graduates) a group of five, who once visited the Lands and Land Resettlement ministry with the intention of applying for land only to be told that there was no more land available and they should consider leasing from other farmers, but that involves cost and a general feeling of not belonging. Fellow colleagues, holders of BSc degrees in Agriculture are working in fast-food outlets, yet the country is in serious need of these people for food production purposes.
The case of the N7 farmers in Cape Town, South Africa is a testament to the abilities of the agricultural graduates in Zimbabwe. The untapped capacity for creativity and innovation by graduate youths in agriculture is wasted when they are not active participants in the mainstream agricultural economy. Involving young graduates is important in enabling agriculture to be driven by Zimbabwe’s brightest and best, who are ambitious and eager to make a difference, passionate about the agricultural transformation.
In order to regain our lost status as “the breadbasket of Africa” it is not enough to attend to the symptoms of the crisis we have in agriculture, but rather, it is of importance to tackle the profound causes of these symptoms. First, it is important to take into account that human capital in agriculture has been depleted by neglect and this has resulted in an exodus of graduates to neighbouring countries.
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Considering the role that agronomy should play in the revival of our agricultural sector, it is disturbing to note how far away we are from this agricultural reality. To what extent are those in charge of agriculture aware of the wealth of knowledge we are exporting to neighbouring countries? This labour force we export includes agricultural economists, agronomists, agricultural policy specialists, animal scientists, land surveyors, and developers, to name a few. The money the government gets from exporting labour does not equate to the role these graduates play in boosting the economies of neighbouring countries.
It is safe to say that agricultural land and its ownership in Zimbabwe has left too little room for youths to be active primary producers in agriculture. As much as the government is of the idea that the land reform and ownership is closed, that further disadvantages the youth.
In light of the recent comments by Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo that “graduates lack skills” it is needless for us as young agriculture graduates to dwell into the scope of agronomy/crop science, soil and animal science the scientific, technical and research aspects that are incorporated into our curricula so as to justify the skills we have.
If the essential problem of the Zimbabwean economy today truly lies in the underperformance of the agriculture sector, then the solution to this crisis lies in a formulating coordinated policies that would allow young agricultural professionals to become active and productive participants. These policies must be curtail the exodus of agricultural graduates from the country, by way of domestic motivation and incentivisation of these young graduates to stay in agriculture and in the country in the long run. Agriculture innovativeness also requires drawing on new energy and new sources of inspiration and leadership, particularly through tapping from these youth. Self-sustenance in the country can be easily achieved, but it requires commitment from the top, through leadership to young graduates, not marginalise them. Let us not downplay the critical role played by the country’s universities and agricultural colleges in creating a pipeline of talent and generating scientific discovery and the skills students learn.
Zimbabwe needs to draw lessons from Egypt’s land reclamation from the 1980s to the mid 1990s, when the Egyptian government officially gave up employment guarantees to give first priority to graduates possessing relevant agricultural degrees to work on reclaimed desert land. The beneficiaries were allocated an irrigated plot of land and a house each, with long-term credit and a certificate of ownership. This tied down the beneficiaries, who committed themselves to cultivate the land rather than sell it. The graduates were then offered the reclaimed land at a reasonable price to be paid back in comfortable instalments. A credit line was also created to support the development of micro- and small enterprises among graduates. For the sale of produce, the project helped young farmers establish direct links with exporters and major buyers in the domestic market.
Through these developments, many graduates in agronomy across what was once a desert in Egypt now supply fresh oranges and mozzarella cheese to resorts in Egypt’s Sharm-el-Sheikh. The graduates also export sweet peppers and sun-dried tomatoes to Italy and the United States, peanuts to Germany and Switzerland, and raisins, artichokes, apricots, peaches and potatoes to a number of European countries.
l Ronald Kudzai Rusere and Sayid Ali Kativu are BSc Horticulture Honours graduates. Feedback: [email protected] & [email protected]
Heinz, a global food company, buys more than 6 000 tonnes of tomatoes each year from 300 project farms. Agricultural training guaranteed productivity to the Egyptian Government that the youth graduates were able to pay back the loans they received. In as much as we do not have natural deserts as is the case of Egypt, we can draw many lessons from the nation and this mentioned initiative in particular. We do not have deserts but we surely have deserted, idle tracks of agricultural land whose economic productivity can be maximized following the Egyptian incentivization strategy. This, if applied, would be a win-win scenario for both graduates and the Government of Zimbabwe. The benefits are diverse; there will be a zero increase in the wage bill of the Government, since the graduates will be employing themselves and in the long run creating employment and there is increased productivity on the farms.
With justified optimism, it is only a matter of time to solve the problem of food shortages in the country. It has been more than a decade since we took land and almost the same rephrased, recycled headlines still appear in our papers. It is high time we stop recycling headlines from a decade ago when it comes to agriculture and deal with the current problems we have. Farmers should simply stop clothing their favourite agricultural activity in rhetoric that matches the latest government policy, headline or problem prevailing. Productivity growth in agriculture can have far-reaching impacts on the growth of our economy. The Government has made numerous efforts in resuscitating the sector but the means mobilized in this effort have been neither as substantial nor as efficacious as predicted. At the rate of our progress in that regard, it is only fair to state that we may take more than a century before this curse can be made to disappear.
The economic transformation of Zimbabwe hinges on some major changes in agricultural policies. It is high time we evaluate the effectiveness of some government initiatives and not end up with spending millions on programs that, by most accounts, breed corruption and are ineffective. A lot of programs were put in place with the hope of increasing agricultural productivity in the country such as Operation Maguta, Agriculture Mechanisation Programme, Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility, National Cattle Herd Rebuilding Programme, Farming Input Scheme but the evidence that is available tells a mixed story with a number of those program’s failing to reach the intended targets or the desired outcome, a finding that was expected but until then had been based mostly on conjecture and anecdotes. The question that arises constantly is just how serious are we as a country are in solving problems associated with agriculture, and are some of the policies we are introducing currently likely to undermine future agricultural production and Zimbabwe’s ability to feed itself?
We need to formulate strategies to revive and expand the agricultural sector in the country and these should incentivise and motivate the youth to actively participate and stay in the sector for the longest time possible. Evidence exists within the agricultural sector, as well as other sectors, which shows that greater youth engagement in the policy formulation process leads to improved policy outcomes. Of that vast evidence, little evidence close to none, comes from our beloved country Zimbabwe. We are of the suggestion that investing in youth in agriculture shows great promise for increasing crop yields and ensuring we achieve food security, while greatly reducing the brain drain. Such a move will keep these youth in agriculture and its payoffs are likely to be particularly high for our country.
At times reverting back to basics with allocation of land to a group of young graduates can lead to adoption of simple, agronomic approaches which are based on an understanding of soil, crop, climate, and their interactions on a national scale being established and implemented, moreover these strategies can provide most of the production agriculture at a fraction of the technology and costs. The promotion of agricultural research and education in agriculture are critical in the promotion of productivity on farms and achieving food security. However, we would argue very strongly that leaps in agricultural productivity and success in some Government agricultural programs can be achieved by prioritising agricultural sciences, without the acknowledgement of this fundamental knowledge that underpins or forms the basis of crop productivity we as a country are going nowhere.
One would confuse or dismiss us for AGRO-PESSIMISTS, but being fellow agriculture graduates we are saddened by the current situation and the hope of being agro entrepreneurs is but a pipe dream. For us the majority youths in agriculture, farming has become a physical appetite, almost an addiction and it would be an understatement if we say we like agriculture but we love it with a passion!
The writers Ronald Kudzai Rusere & Sayid Ali Kativu BSc Horticulture Honours degree from Midlands State University can be contacted @ [email protected] & [email protected]
