Zimbabwe’s 2019 national budget surpassed the Maputo Declaration’s target of agricultural allocation by 2 percent.
Zimbabwe is a signatory of the Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security which states that 10 percent of the national budget allocation must be allocated to agricultural development.
“Agriculture financing has increased by 50% to US$989.3 million in 2019 from US$497.4 million allocated in 2018.” ZIMCODD, a social justice group said.
“This is about 12% percent of the total budget which is 2% above the 10% that was agreed under the Maputo declaration, and above the 9% for the 2018 financial year.”
On the budget allocated to agriculture, US$36.5 million has been set aside towards the development of 7 000 hectares on 115 irrigation schemes countrywide according to the 2019 Infrastructure Investment Plan published by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.
Another US$8 million has been allocated for the construction of fences 80 kilometers (km) along the Gonarezhou and also 281 km in Mashonaland West and Manicaland to control trans-boundary diseases while US$2.4 million was allocated for the rehabilitation of around 50 dip tanks across provinces.
“Under the Area-wide Integrated Pest Mangement approach, a provision of US$2 million has been set aside for the procurement of vehicle and motorbikes, to enable surveillance of tsetse movement and spraying of affected areas,” the plan states.
“Given the limited fiscal space, the 2019 Budget makes provision of US$53 million for payment of compensation to former farmers for farm improvement.”
ZIMCODD says “However, the bulk of the resources have been allocated to command agriculture which is a state-facilitated contract farming initiative with only US$130 million set aside to support 1 million
vulnerable households.”“This translates to $130 per household which is meager considering that a 10kg bag of maize seed now costs $110.”
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