Mnangagwa lies on Command Agric prospects- Prof Moyo

Charles Mabhena

Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa while officiating at a Methodist Church function over the weekend said the country was poised for bumper harvest this season, he attributed this to the Command Agriculture and the Presidential Input Scheme which are both the brainchild of President Robert Mugabe.

In his address Mnangagwa said the only headache facing his government would be that of the country’s grain storage capacity. He praised the churches of having had prayed for good the rains and added that the assessment they did indicate that the country will get more than 3 million tonnes up from the expected 2 million.

“We received good rains thanks to your prayers. The only challenge that we are now facing is storing the maize,” he said.

Mnangagwa said the expected bumper harvest would open floodgates for other opportunities and employment in the agricultural value chain.

However, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education who is Mnangagwa’s foe in the ongoing factional wars says the Acting President was being overzealous in that claim, which could be unnecessarily false at the same time.

“The report by The Herald (Mnangagwa) that Command Agriculture exceeds target is at best premature and at worst needlessly false,” he tweeted, as he highlighted Mnangagwa’s exact claims in the report that more than 3 million tonnes are now expected.

This also comes after there has been reports going round in the social circles that some farmers have been selling the inputs they got under the project.

The rains has come as both a blessing in some areas and a curse in others, as regions of the country have been hit by floods damaging roads, bridges, schools, homes, as well as agricultural prospects.