Story by Tichaona Kurewa
Delegates at the Zimbabwe Economic Development Conference (ZEDCON) have noted the need to expeditiously implement various agriculture growth interventions including expansion of irrigation infrastructure and cultivation of traditional grains.
About five percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is being eroded by climate change and Zimbabwe is no exception as it grapples with El Nino-induced food shortages.
The government is, however, rising to the occasion through various interventions such as construction of dams, expansion of irrigable land and the establishment of a climate adaptation fund.
The 2024 edition of the ZEDCON saw economic players commending government efforts to fight climate change and proffering more solutions to the challenge.
Livestock and Meat Advisory Council’s executive administrator, Dr Reneth Mano said, “We are grateful to President Mnangagwa for supporting the initiative for the establishment of an Adaptation Fund. This is a fund under which Zimbabwe together with international partners include the climate finance facilities at the world scale can contribute to establishing a resource basket so that next time when are hit by drought we have a place to start-off in terms of food security. The Climate Adaptation Fund will also liberate fiscal space and provide financing for agricultural adaptation beyond what we are doing under Pfumvudza/Intwasa.”
“You know Zimbabwe has one of the highest density of dams per square meter. We now want to look at bringing investments around these dammed areas so that we do irrigated agriculture. It goes down to investment into harnessing water from our rooftops, simple things like that where there is investment that is needed to support the mindset change. We also look at investment in shifting our cereal choice, for example maize is very dominant, we need 1.5 million tonnes of maize but we start hearing conversation about small grains, its another investment area. How small grains are grown, value chain development of small grains, this is the work that our team are already seized with,” said ZIDA’s board chairperson, Mr Busisa Moyo.
The government acknowledged that climate change is a threat to Vision 2030 and called for the involvement of all stakeholders to grow the economy.
“We need the participation of all stakeholders both local and foreign to deliberate on strategies that will propel the economy forward within the short to medium to long term,” said Matabeleland North Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Honourable Richard Moyo.
The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube said, “Climate change is one of the major threats to the achievement of our Vision 2030 of an upper-middle-income status. On average, it is estimated that climate change is eroding 5% of GDP on the African continent, varying across member states. In Zimbabwe, climate change is estimated to be costing the country a lot in terms of economic growth. This comes at a time when the country is facing one of the worst climate-related drought which has forced our economy to deviate from our intended growth path of an average of 5% to around 2% in 2024.”
Outcomes from ZEDCON 2024 will also be incorporated in the crafting of the 2025 National Budget and formulation of other policies to propel the country to an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
