The questions that must be asked and which the policy makers in Zimbabwe asked that enabled them to achieve food security for their country.
1. How much “wheat” (maize) in terms of metric tonnage do we need annually to ensure that there is sufficient food for our people to eat and be able to export extra? — X metric tonnes.
2. How much land acreage do we need in order to be able to annually produce the X metric tonnes of wheat (maize)? — Y Hectares.
3. How much fertilizers do we need to be applied to the said Y Hectares of farm land in order to enable us get the X metric tonnes of yield annually that we require for our country?
4. How much and what is the extent of irrigation required in order for the said yield to be attained?
5. How much and what type of pesticides do we need applied in the farmland in order to assure us the required amount of yield?
6. How many farmers do we need to engage privately or by government in order to cultivate the said acreage of land?
7. How many and what type of tractors and other farming implements do we need deployed in order to adequately farm the said acreage of land?
8. How many extension experts are required to adequately supervise and offer expert extension services to the farmers involved in the program?
9. How much and what quality of seeds is required for the farmers in order to be assured of the desired yields at harvest?
10. How much operating capital do the farmers involved in this program need in terms of advance loans in order for them to be able to meet the daily costs of the workers at the farms?
11. What kind of prior training and guidance do the farmers need in order to adequately equip them with enough requisite knowledge about the enterprise of wheat (maize) that they are going to engage in?
12. What sort of collection and storage (post harvest) facilities are required in specifically identified communal collection centers?
13. What receipting mechanism can be put in place as a way of aggregating all yield in order to ensure quality and consistency?
14. What other relevant information is required and must be provided to the farmers in order to empower them in their farming enterprise aimed at ensuring that we achieve our annual goal of producing the said X metric tonnes of wheat (maize)?
Now, these may look as simple and straightforward questions for any policy maker to be wasting time on, but yet actually they form the real gist of sound policy formulation.
President Mnangagwa has ably demonstrated and challenged us in that video clip of his interview while in Senegal attending the African Food Summit.
Without painstakingly going through and interrogating each and everyone of those questions, any policy program hurriedly formulated and deployed will certainly not only face a series of sometimes unnecessary bumps but also frustrating to and forth pullings which inevitably can only result in uncoordinated and unrealistic futile deployment of the scarce resources.
Zimbabwe has shown us that even amidst of all pessimism, a well thought through, a well coordinated and a well executed policy program can yield tremendous achievements that benefit the country and its economy.
— Edward Baliddawa, January 29, 2023.
