https://www.herald.co.zw/5-000-farmers-contracted-to-grow-sunflower/

Feb. 10, 2022

To ensure local supplies of a crucial raw material and replace imports, major cooking oil and margarine producer Pure Oil Industries has hired 5 000 smallholder farmers in four provinces to produce sunflower during the current summer cropping season. The plan is also anticipated to generate jobs, empower smallholder farmers and enable them to participate in the agriculture value chain, and increase supply of Pure Oil's premium branded sunflower cooking oil by paying local farmers to produce what the company requires.

Commissioning of the Belarus Mechanisation Facility worth over US$50 million at the Agriculture Engineering Institute in Hatcliffe, Harare.

President Mnangagwa will commission the Belarus Mechanisation Facility worth over US$50 million at the Agriculture Engineering Institute in Hatcliffe, Harare.

Expansion of the list of import duty and Value Added Tax-free agricultural equipment

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has expanded the list of import duty and Value Added Tax-free agricultural equipment, a move described by stakeholders as critical to transforming the sector for economic growth and prosperity.

The exemption of some of the agricultural machinery from paying duty comes at a time when preparations for the 2020/21 summer cropping season have started, with the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement rolling out the Agricultural Recovery Plan aimed at boosting productivity.

Attendance of the 2019 Investment for Africa Forum by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement

Cabinet received a briefing report on the 2019 Investment for Africa Forum which the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement attended in Cairo, Egypt, from 22 to 23 November, 2019. The Investment for Africa Forum provides a unique pan- African platform that brings together African Heads of State and Governments, prominent regional and international investors as well as International Financial Institutions.

The Forum deliberated on Africa’s abundant opportunities, and explored means of utilising the continent’s vast human and natural resources towards achieving self-sufficiency and the continent’s industrial transformation.

Lifting of ban on private grain sales

Governement has lifted the ban on private grain sales and granted the nod to individuals and corporates with free funds to import quantities of their choice to complement Treasury’s efforts in ensuring adequate national grain reserves. Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Minister Perrance Shiri, briefing journalists after a Cabinet meeting, said those intending to do so can obtain required licensing from relevant authorities.

The Zimbabwe government signed a USD100 Million deal with John Deere Tractors & Belarus

The government has signed contracts with Belarus and John Deere for the supply of agriculture mechanisation equipment worth US$100 million, as it moves to close Zimbabwe’s mechanisation gap that is estimated to be falling short of about 543 000 agricultural implements. This comes as farmers have blamed subdued levels of agricultural production on inefficient and obsolete equipment that they are using.

Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Vangelis Haritatos told The Herald Business that Government is at advanced stages for the sourcing of agricultural implements from the two financiers and is expecting to start receiving 1 000 tractors from next week.